Field of Use

Nematodes or eelworms are major soil pests affecting horticultural and agricultural crops.  They cause severe damage and crop losses if they are not controlled.  Many crop rotation practices have been introduced to minimise the build-up of harmful soil nematode populations.  In warmer climates this build-up is often quite rapid so that the harmful effects of nematodes are widely recognised in tropical and Mediterranean agriculture and horticulture.

Harmful soil nematodes infect the roots of plants.  They reduce the ability of plants to absorb water and nutrients and weaken the ability of affected plants to stand.  The nematode species involved are worldwide in their distribution and collectively cause billions of dollars of crop damage every year.

Economically important host plants of plant parasitic nemetodes

Banana, Black Pepper, Citrus, Coffee, Cotton, Okra, Papaya, Peanut, Pineapple, Potato, Ramie, Strawberry, Sugarcane, Sweet Potato, Tea, Tobacco, Tomato, legumes and other vegetable crops, as well as ornamental plants and turf.

Soil nematode counts made during various field trials show that the following common plant infecting nematode species are controlled by Paecilomyces lilacinus:

Paecilomyces lilacinus controls infestations of the common plant infecting nematodes.  Paecilomyces lilacinus is particularly effective against the root-knot nematode, the potato cyst nematode and the burrowing nematode.  On the other hand, it does not affect beneficial entomopathogenic nematodes in any way	Pictures (© Heinz Decker) : left: Cyst forming on potato roots caused by Globodera rostochiensis right: Root knots on tomatoes caused by Meloidogyne spp.