Štetne nematode krompira / Nematode pests of potato

For a long time, potato has been a strategic food source for European population. For that reason, organisms posing serious threat to potato production have been given adequate attention. It has been realized long ago that such threats require the involvement of national and international authorities, and the implementation of proper quarantine legislation. Some important groups of harmful organisms, including nematodes, cannot be routinely and sustainably controlled with pesticides. In addition, since the nematodes practically depend on human transportation activities to spread, the plant quarantine measures aimed at preventing their introduction and spreading to yet un infested territories have a pronounced significance. These activities include all forms of transporting risky plant material and soil. The highest risk in potato production is the transport and trade of seed potatoes. Another important point related to human transport activities is the fact that the potato itself, as well as some of its important pests, were introduced to Europe mostly from the Americas. This concerns the majority of nematode potato pests dealt with in the present paper, as follows: potato cyst nematodes, Globodera rostochiensis and G. pallida; root-knot nematodes Meloidogyne hapla, M. chitwoodi and M. fallax; false root-knot nematode, Nacobbus aberrans; root lesion nematodes, Pratylenchus spp., potato rot nematode Ditylenchus destructor and stem nematode D. dipsaci. These nematodes are mostly polyphagous pests, but can be, or are, economically the most harmful to potato. Some of these species are, more or less, present in Serbia, while others have not been found so far and are considered absent. In any case, economic damage to potato production caused by nematodes has not been registered yet in Serbia. The control of these nematodes is rather difficult in practice, requiring a well-planed and integrated management approach, adjusted to particular nematode species and situations.