Pratylenchus - Management

Management

While a normal distribution of Pratylenchus is patchy, serious cases can destroy an entire field of a crop. Seeing as complete destruction is devastating, management and control are extremely important. There are several different methods that can be used in order to help control or eliminate problems with root lesion nematodes. The genus Pratylenchus has several different species and each is controlled in a different manor.

In general there are a couple major ways to manage root lesion nematodes. The first includes soil fumigation and the use of nematicides. Either injected into the soil, or sprayed onto the plants, both of these options introduce a nematode killing substance into the environment that the nematode lives in to hopefully decrease the nematode problem. While this may work with some species, it does not work with all of them and can get expensive. This is normally seen only in more expensive crops where the cost of the nematicides can be offset and well worth it. This can be used for P. brachyurus for example.

The next type of control involves water immersion. If infected hosts are transplanted, some may have successful management through a hot water bath. Transplants are immersed in 54˚C water bath for 30 minutes. This practice should be enough to kill the nematodes that are infecting the plant without damaging the plant itself. P. coffeae is one of the species that can be controlled by this treatment.

Another possibility includes crop rotation. Different hosts are susceptible to different species of Pratylenchus. If you have one species of Pratylenchus, planting a crop not susceptible to that specific species will eliminate the problem. Or for P. neglectus specifically, a 4-5 year crop rotation will allow the problem to subside.

Finally, the best, and sometimes only form of control with root lesion nematodes is resistance. By selecting plant genotypes that are resistant to affects of the nematodes, you don’t have to worry about any other form of control. In the case of P. vulnus there is no good way to control it other than to use host resistant varieties. Resistance has been found for several different hosts and species of Pratylenchus and more research is constantly being done to find even more.