Detection of field infestations of potato cyst nematodes (PCN) by sampling soil from harvested potatoes

摘要

Most farmers do not know the Potato Cyst Nematodes (PCN) infestation status of their fields, especially in the case of light infestations. Sampling soil at harvest might enable them to be better informed.It was possible to detect low infestations fromsamples taken from tare soil at harvest. There was a good relation between the spatial distribution of cysts in the field and the infestation levels in the corresponding trolleys at harvest. After a resistant potato crop, however, we often found less empty cysts in samples taken at harvest. Collecting soil adhering to tubers was labour-intensive and did not always result in better detection, but complementary analyses are still in progress.The method was applied by sampling potato lots from potato traders and processors, mostly in regions with very low infestation levels. The results in the southern part of Belgium were almost all negative, with only 10 positive samples out of 240.