Wheat seed-gall nematode: going to archives or have local significance in the developing countries?

The seed-gall nematode, Anguina tritici is the first plant parasitic nematode in the history of Nematology which was reported infecting wheat in 1743. Presently, the nematode has been eliminated from the western world by adopting seed cleaning techniques, but the disease still assumes significance in wheat and barley in some underdeveloped and developing countries where old seed lots are being used to grow the crop. Besides causing seed-galls, the nematode also acts as a vector of bacterium (Rathayibacter tritici), which leads to yellow ear rot or tundu disease in wheat. Being seed borne, both these diseases, can be easily controlled by sowing cockle free wheat seeds. The present review critically examines the occurrence of the seed-gall nematode and its economic significance in global wheat cultivation, and offers detailed information on the options available for management of earcockle in wheat.