Root-damaging worms found lurking in Turkey's major crop fields
Soil Health
Soil that looks perfectly healthy on the surface can still be hosting microscopic worms quietly chewing through roots, which is exactly the kind of invisible threat that makes a home garden's underperforming plants so mysterious.
Scientists dug up soil from 339 fields across a major farming region in Turkey and searched it for tiny worms called plant-parasitic nematodes that feed on crop roots. They found that a handful of worm types dominated the fields, especially one called Pratylenchus thornei, which was especially fond of maize and soybean roots. Knowing exactly which worm species are present matters because different nematodes need different control strategies, so misidentifying the culprit means farmers could waste time and money on the wrong fix.
Key Findings
339 soil samples collected across five provinces in Turkey's Çukurova Basin in 2025 identified plant-parasitic nematode communities in maize, cotton, soybean and peanut fields.
Aphelenchus, Helicotylenchus and Ditylenchus were the most frequently detected genera, while Pratylenchus was especially prevalent in maize and soybean fields.
Four Pratylenchus species were identified via combined morphological and molecular analysis (P. thornei, P. fallax, P. penetrans, P. pratensis), with P. thornei dominant; diversity indices showed low overall community diversity dominated by few taxa.
chevron_right Technical Summary
Turkish researchers surveyed hundreds of fields growing maize, cotton, soybean and peanut and found root-damaging nematodes are widespread, with one species in particular, Pratylenchus thornei, standing out as the most common threat to soybean and maize roots.
Abstract Preview
Original paper
Diversity and occurrence of plant-parasitic nematodes in maize, cotton, soybean and peanut, with morphological and molecular characterisation of root-lesion nematodes
Summary Plant-parasitic nematodes significantly reduce crop productivity, representing a major challenge to agricultural sustainability. This study aimed to identify plant-parasitic nematodes in ma...
open_in_new Read full abstractAbstract copyright held by the original publisher.
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