Author: F. SHAHINA

Publishing Date: 2005

E-ISSN: 0255-7576

Volume 23 Issue 1

ABSTRACT:

Sugarcane (Saccharum hybrid) has been cultivated on 0.104 million hectares of land and a total of 0.468 million tones of sugarcane has been obtained in 2000-2001 in NWF Province. Nematodes in the district Charsadda are devastating and a matter of grave concern. The problem is however, more severe in ratoon than crop plant. Stunted plants in patches are the peculiar external characteristic symptoms of the nematodes. When the extracted nematodes were examined under microscope, Tylenchus, Tylenchorhynchus, Helicotylenchus and Aphelenchus species were found in the soil samples during the whole crop season. The nematodes population in district Charsadda ranged from 95 to 149 per 100 ml soil with mean of 122.37. Through extensive surveys of the sugarcane growing areas in the district Charsadda, not a single field was found free of nematodes. The incidence of nematodes ranged from 16.1 to 32.8% with a mean incidence of 22.87 %.