Diagnosis of Plant Parasitic Nematodes

Plant parasitic nematodes (PPNs) are the unseen enemies of crop plants. The symptoms caused by PPNs are more often overlooked or confused with symptoms caused by abiotic stress on crops. The management of PPNs is achieved by using resistant crops, a limited number of chemical nematicides, biological agents, or other cultural methods. The success of all of these management practices, however, depends on early detection and diagnosis of PPNs. The currently prevalent methods of nematode diagnosis heavily depend on the examination of plant symptomatology along with morphological identification of the associated nematodes by expert nematologists. In recent times, PCR-based molecular methods such as linear PCR, RT-qPCR, and isothermal PCR-based assays have gained popularity because they are specific and easily doable by non-experts. Several types of isothermal PCR-based assays have the potential to be converted into a point-of-care diagnostic method, which is desperately needed for PPNs.