Forest College and Research Institute, Mettupalayam (TNAU) - 641 301, India
Sesamum crop was surveyed in four distrkts of Tamil Nadu, viz., Periyar, Trichirappalli, Coimbatore and Tanjavur for any infestation of P1geonpea cyst nematode, Heterodera cajani for its frequency of occurrence and density. Out of 220 soil and root samples collected from over 64 villages. It was found that 38.296 of samples had H. cajani infestation. The absolute density of eggs and larvae/g soil and larvae and adult females/g root were 2.5 and 388.4 numbers respectively. The district, Periyar was found to have heavy infestation by the nematode recording high biomass value of 1.7 mg. The characteristic symptoms produced on sesarnum plants were stunted sunken pockets in the field and plants without having branches ending in a single capsule with mummified form at its shoot tip.
