OBSERVATIONS ON THE EFFECT OF DIFFERENT MANAGEMENT REGIMES OF SET-ASIDE LAND ON NEMATODE COMMUNITY STRUCTURE

Experiments to assess the impact of the different management regimes w ere undertaken at a number of experimental farms in England. Soil samp les taken from these sites were examined for nematodes in 1989, 1992 a nd 1994. The data indicated that of the four treatments, natural regen eration, sown ryegrass, sown ryegrass/clover and arable cropping, none had any consistent significant effect on the nematode populations ove r all the three sites. Plant-parasitic nematodes increased in numbers in all treatments at all sites between 1989 and 1994 as did those of m ost non-plant parasitic species while predatory nematode populations t ended to increase in 1992 and decrease again in 1994. The results, whi ch allowed comparisons to be made between sites, seasons and treatment s, suggest that the land returning to conventional tillage after years in set-aside would not have a markedly different plant parasitic nema tode problem than those continuing in a conventional arable rotation. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.