Division of Nematology, Indian Agricultural Research Institute New Delhi-12.
Presented at Nematology Symposium held at Coimbatore, India in February, 1981
For the past few years Government organizations and other private bodies like Coffee Board, UPASI, and Cardamom Board are paying much attention in the hilly areas of South India to bring more area under cultivation of foreign exchange earning potential crops of various beverages, spices and condiments. In this target, southern districts of Tamil Nadu share considerable area of about 4,72,000 ha. In view of the meagre information available about nematode fauna, a study on the Community analysis of soil and plant parasitic nematodes of hilly areas of southern districts of Tamil Nadu was carried out by analysing 131 soil/root samples collected from the rhizosphere of 65 different crop plants, with a view to provide information about the absolute and relative frequency, density, biomass, prominence and importance values of 43* different nematode species which are identified under 26 genera, 16 families, 7 super families, 4 sub-orders and 2 orders of Tylenchida and Dorylaimida. Such a presentation is an improvement over the conventional way of presenting survey results by mere listing species. This is so because the importance value incorporates the energetics of the ecosystem rather than the ever-fluctuating rupee value of the crop.
