Junie 2014
66
control nematodes
P
arasitic plant nematodes are tinymicro-organisms. They are
worm-like in appearance, are adapted to living inwater, but
are common in soils all over the world. Most plant parasitic
nematodes are root feeders.
Some, known as endo-parasitic nematodes, live inside the tissue of
the plant while others, known as ecto-parasitic nematodes, feed on
theoutside.
Irrespective of the size, a single endo-parasitic nematode has the
potential to kill a plant or reduce its productivity significantly.
Thereare severalmethods commonlyused tocontrol plant-parasitic
nematodes. The challenge faced by scientists is to identify the
effective and compatible integrated pest management strategies
that will simultaneously address both weed and nematode
management. Someof theweeds that occur in agricultural cropping
systemsmay act as alternativehost toplant-parasitic nematodes.
The first and most accurate way of establishing whether there
is a nematode problem is to send both plant tissue (i.e. root/
tubers/seeds) and soil to a nematology laboratory for nematode
analyses.
Nematodes /Worm-like /Micro-organisms / Root feeders
Pest control
ON FARM LEVEL
NANCYNTIDI,
ARC-GrainCrops Institute
1:Worm-likenematode and eggs.
2a to 2c: Sampling equipment.
3a: Root sample for nematode analyses.
3b: A labellednematode root sample.
3c: A soil sample for nematode analyses.
4a to 4c: Labelling anddispatchingof samples.
1
3a
3c
3b
4a
4b
4c
2a
2c
2b
