Plant metabolites for management of plant parasitic nematodes

lant-parasitic nematodes are among the best known crop pests responsible for substantial value loss of crops of agronomic importance. Management of these pests has been mainly achieved with chemical nematicides throughout the past decades. Overuse of synthetic pesticides has generated a series of environmental problems and human and animal health concerns leading to their progressive withdrawal from the European market as well as to consider the use of alternative control strategies. In the recent years the interest in the application of botanical nematicides has increased tremendously, leading to the discover of new plant sources, plant extracts and phytochemicals with potential as nematicidals. Groups of plant secondary metabolites most promising in the development of pesticidal formulations are glucosinolates,saponins and terpenoid phytoconstituents. In the present communication we will describe our latest results on the nematicidal effects of selected plant extracts rich in the above mentioned compounds as well as the biocidal activity of pure plant metabolites against highly destructive phytoparasites such as the root-knot nematode Meloidogyne incognita or the ectoparasite dagger nematode Xiphinema index.