A. Ciancio - Böcker

The proposal for this series originated during a short term visit of Professor Mukerji to the Plant Protection Institute of CNR at Bari, Italy, in November 2005. Both editors agreed on the need to produce a volume focusing on recent advances and achievements which changed the practice of crop protection in the last decade. The opera rapidly evolved towards a long term editorial endeavour, yielding a mul- disciplinary series of five volumes. In view of environmental and health concerns, a determined effort is currently made in almost any agroecosystem in the world, to reduce and rationalize the use of chemicals (pesticides, fungicides, nematocides etc. ) and to manage pests/pathogens more effectively. This consciousness is not only related to the need of nourishing a still growing world population, but also derives from the impact of side effects of farming, like soil, water and environmental contamination, calling for a responsible conservation of renewable resources. There are increasing expectations at the producers and consumers levels, concerning low inputs agriculture and residues-free food. Disciplines like IPM/IDM (integrated pest management / integrated disease management) are now central to the science and technology of crop protection. In the classical version of IPM/IDM, a pesticide/fungicide is applied only when the pathogen population reaches a level that would lead to economic losses in the crop. In other words, classical IPM/IDM concentrates on reducing the numbers of noxious organisms through the application of agrochemicals.

This series originated during a visit of prof. Mukerji to the Plant Protection Institute of CNR at Bari, Italy, in November 2005. Both editors agreed to produce a series of five volumes focusing, in a multi-disciplinary approach, on recent advances and achievements in the practice of crop protection. This Volume deals with nematodes parasitic on plants. Nematodes inhabit the earth since almost half a billion years and will probably remain for an even longer time in the future. They represent a very successful, diversified and specialised animal group, present in all ecological niches in nature. Only a small fraction of species is actually described and, among them, only a reduced number is known to feed on plants. Among them, however, a few species exert an heavy economic impact on crops, representing a severe limiting factor for agricultural productions. This statement explains the attention devoted in last decades to plant parasitic nematodes, and the efforts deployed for their control. As for other disciplines concerning plant protection, nematology is now in a mature stage in which the optimism initially underlining the widespread use of chemicals and fumigants lent space to a more pragmatic, comprehensive and integrated vision of control.

Disciplines like IPM/IDM (integrated pest management / integrated disease management) are now central to the science and technology of crop protection. In the classical version of IPM/IDM, a pesticide/fungicide is applied only when the pathogen population reaches a level that would lead to economic losses in the crop.