Integrated Nematode Management StateoftheArt and Visions for the Future

Plant parasitic nematodes are costly burdens of crop production, causing an estimated US$80 - 118 billion per year in damage to crops. They are associated with nearly every important agricultural crop, and are a significant constraint on global food security. Regulations on the use of chemical pesticides have resulted in growing interest in alternative methods of nematode control. Future changes in climate, cropping systems, food habits, as well as social and environmental factors also affect the options for nematode control. Taking a systematic crop by crop approach, this book:Outlines the economic importance of specific plant parasitic nematode problems on the major food and industrial crops.Presents the state-of-the-art management strategies that have been developed to reduce specific nematode impacts, and outlines their limitations.Contains case studies to illustrate impact in the field.Aims to anticipate future changes in nematode disease pressure that might develop as a result of climate change, and new cropping systems.

Richard A. Sikora is a University of Bonn, Professor emeritus, who has published numerous books in nematology and plant protection. He has worked in nematology for 53 years as a teacher and researcher and has over 300 peer reviewed publications. He has trained numerous PhD and MS students in practical nematology, many from the tropics and subtropics. During his career he focused on integrated nematode management and alternative tools for control e.g. biocontrol, remote sensing and resistance management.

Johan Desaeger was born and raised in Belgium,and he graduated as an agricultural engineer from the University of Ghent. He started working with nematodes in 1994 in Kenya at the International Center for Research in Agroforestry. After completing his PhD in Applied Biological Sciences from the University of Leuven in 2001. he moved to the U.S. to work on nematode management in vegetables at the Universities of Florida and Georgia. He made the leap to industry in 2005 when he joined DuPont to start up a nematology program at their former research facility in Delaware. Dr Desaeger came back to Florida and joined the UF/IFAS faculty in the summer of 2016 to build a new nematology research group at the GCREC.

Leendert Molendijk studied nematology and tropical agriculture at Wageningen University and is senior nematologist at the Wageningen University & Research department of Field Crops, leading the section of nematology. He has 30 years of experience in applied nematological research and knowledge transfer to extension organisations and farmers.