Estimation of Field Populations of Cyst forming Nematodes of the GenusHeterodera

Abstract

Despite many recent advances in the study of nematicides and in the breeding of resistant strains of plants, control of cyst forming nematodes is still best accomplished by crop rotation; to be fully effective, it is also desirable that a field in which it is proposed to grow a susceptible crop should be sampled and an estimate made of the population of nematodes present: such an estimate is susceptible to different sources of error and although it is possible to decrease the magnitude of these errors a compromise has to be reached between the conflicting claims of precision on the one hand and the expenditure of man-power on the other; it is desirable that this compromise be based on factual data rather than guesswork; good estimates of the order of magnitude of the different types of error are therefore desirable.