Agricultural Nematology
Agricultural Nematology
1. ANM 301 - AGRICULTURAL NEMATOLOGY (1+1)
Introduction
Nematology is an important branch of biological science, which deals with
a complex, diverse group of round worms known as Nematodes that occur
worldwide in essentially all environments. Nematodes are also known as
eelworms in Europe, nemas in the United States and round worms by
zoologists. Many species are important parasites of plants and animals,
whereas others are beneficial to agriculture and the environment. Nematodes
that are parasites of man and animals are called helminthes and the study is
known as Helminthology. The plant parasitic forms are called nematodes and
the study is known as Plant Nematology. The name nematode was derived
from Greek words nema (thread) and oides (resembling).
Annual crop losses due to these obligate parasites have been estimated
to be about $ 78 billion wordwide and $ 8 billion for U.S. growers. The
estimated annual crop loss in Tamil Nadu is around Rs. 200 crores.
Losses Of Crop Yield
The soils in a hectare of all agroecosystem typically contain billions of
plant parasitic as well as beneficial nematodes. The damage to plants
caused by nematodes is often overlooked because the associated symptoms,
including slow growth, stunting and yellowing, can also be attributed to
nutritional and water related disorders. In the United States, the nematodes are known to cause six per cent lossin field crops, ($ 100 million / year), 12 per cent loss in fruits and nuts ($ 225
million / year), 11 per cent loss in vegetables ($ 267 million / year) and 10 per
cent loss in ornamental ($ 60 million / year).
In India, the cereal cyst nematode, Heterodera avenae causes the ‘molya’
disease of wheat and barley in Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal
Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmi
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