From Diagnosis to Ecological Engineering: Emerging Transformative Approaches to Plant-Parasitic Nematode Management

Abstract

Plant-parasitic nematodes remain unusually difficult crop pests because their damage is predominantly below ground, their populations are spatially aggregated, and their biological responses are strongly conditioned by host genotype, soil properties, climate and associated microorganisms. Regulatory withdrawal of hazardous fumigants, variable performance of biological products and the limited durability of single resistance genes have intensified the search for approaches that are more selective, anticipatory and ecologically compatible. This critical narrative review evaluates technologies that could materially change how nematode risk is detected, prevented and suppressed. The evidence was organised around precision diagnosis and surveillance; resistant cultivars, effector-informed breeding and genome editing; RNA interference and nanotechnology-enabled delivery; microbiome engineering, biological control and natural metabolites; soil-system redesign through biofumigation and anaerobic soil disinfestation; and newer selective nematicides. The strongest near-term case is not for a stand-alone ‘revolutionary’ product but for an information-led integrated system in which diagnostics determine the target, resistant or edited plants reduce host suitability, ecological practices lower inoculum and improve soil function, and biological or chemical interventions are applied only where their expected benefit exceeds agronomic and environmental costs. Molecular assays and field sensors can improve specificity and timeliness, yet DNA detection does not automatically measure viable infective pressure or economic risk. Gene editing and RNA interference provide unprecedented target precision, but evidence remains concentrated in a small number of crop–nematode combinations and delivery, durability, pleiotropy and regulation remain decisive constraints. Microbial consortia and suppressive-soil approaches are biologically credible but context dependent, whereas newer nematicides offer useful selectivity without removing the need for stewardship. Progress therefore depends on standardised validation, multi-environment field trials, viable-population diagnostics, resistance-management plans, environmental fate studies and delivery models accessible to resource-constrained farming systems. Transformative nematode management is best understood as coordinated redesign of diagnosis, host resistance, soil ecology and intervention timing rather than replacement of one input by another.