NON-CHEMICAL CONTROL – EFFECTIVE AND ECOLOGICALY ACCEPTABLE APPROACH OF POTATO CYST NEMATODE CONTROL

The potato (Solanum tuberosumL.) is a major world crop the yield of which greatly depends on growing management strategies but also on many pests, including quarantine potato cyst nematodes (PCN)Globodera rostochiensis(Wollenweber, 1923) Behrens, 1975 andGlobodera pallida(Stone, 1973) Behrens, 1975. The integrated management strategies in the control of PCN involve the cultivation of resistant potato cultivars, trap cropping, crop rotation and use of nematicides - which should be applied only if necessary, because of their cost, toxicity and/or other drawbacks. In order to define the efficacy of non-chemical treatments in control of PCN in infested potato fields, two field trials were conducted in 2002 and 2003. Prior to planting and at potato harvest, the fields were examined for the presence of PCN by soil sampling, followed by extraction of cysts by Spears's flotation technique and determination of cyst viability. The efficacy of treatments in field trials was determined by Henderson - Tilton and was analyzed by ANOVA and Duncan's multiple range test (DMRT, P