Language: English
From the introduction:
"Sikkim became the twenty-second state of India in 1975. This is a small hill state nestling in the Himalayas, situated in the North-Eastern Region of India. Sikkim has been divided into four districts, viz., North, South, East and West. Though the cultivated land is limited to 95,832 hectares, seasonal fruits like mandarin orange, guava, lime, lemon, apple, pear, plum, etc. are extensively grown. Sikkim is one of the major orange producing states of India. The average annual production has been estimated to be 17,190 tonnes from 2,300 hectare of orchards. All mandarin oranges are Citrus reticulate. The important orange producing areas are within the elevation range of 600-15,00 m above mean sea level.
In view of the importance of Mandarin Orange in the economy of the State, a random survey was conducted during May, 1981 in the East, West and South districts of Sikkim for the nematodes associated with citrus trees, Citrus reticulate. One-hundred-twenty-two soil samples were collected from 12 localities of the East districts, 8 localities of the West district and 9 localities of the South district. The analysis of these samples showed a wide variety of tylenchs, aphelench, dorylaims, mononchs and other soil-inhabiting nematodes.
The present paper deals with the nematode species belonging to the Orders Tylenchida, Aphelenchida, Dorylaimida and Monochida. In all 61 species have been identified, of which 10 are new to science. Short descriptions of already known species have also been provided. Scutellonema brachyarum (Steiner, 1933} Andrassy, 1958, because of the high degree of dominance and abundance in the area surveyed, is suspected to be a key pest of citrus. Its allometric and morphometric variations have been discussed in detail so as to facilitate the correct identification by the nematologists involved in pathological studies."