National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources, New Delhi-110012, India.
Effect of various land development practices (burning of vegetative cover, ploughing plus levelling, green manuring and summer fallowing) and cropping sequences (mono-cropping, mixed cropping and crop rotation recommended for the region) on population dynamics of plant parasitic nematodes was studied on land which had remained without any cultivation since long time. All land development practices were found to decrease the numbers of most of the nematode species encountered. Ploughing plus levelling followed by summer fallowing and green manuring with Crotalaria juncea almost completely eliminated the nematodes. Amongst various cropping sequences, specific crop rotations were found most effective in keeping nematode populations below the damaging levels while monocropping with six successive crops of tomato highly favoured the population increase of Meloidugyne incognita, making the land unsuitable for growing a susceptible crop in the next season.
