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President ECOSF Prof. Manzoor Hussain Soomro and Co-authors publish the “Textbook of Plant Nematology”

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Prof. Manzoor Hussain Soomro, President ECOSF together with his two co-authors; Dr. Erum Iqbal and Dr. Firoza Kazi of National Nematological Research Centre (NNRC), University of Karachi, Karachi- Pakistan have written a book entitled, “Textbook of Plant Nematology”. The book has been published by the Pakistan Society of Nematologists (PSN) in March 2022.

Considering the importance of diversity and roles of nematodes in the ecosystem, and the fact that Plant Nematology is taught in degree programmes at various universities, not a single textbook on the subject has been produced in Pakistan. Thus, a dire need of such a textbook has been felt for quite some time for the benefit of students specializing in the subject at graduate and postgraduate levels. This book has been designed to cover the course outline of “Plant Nematology”, approved by the National Regulator- the Higher Education Commission (HEC) of Pakistan for B.S. and M.S. (Plant Nematology and Plant Pathology) degree programmes.  It’s an open access book downloadable free of cost, DOI:10.33804/978.969.23704.0.0 and from the website

The book contains 16 chapters covering the latest information on the major fundamental and advanced aspects of plant parasitic nematodes. It includes; basic introduction, global and local historical development of Nematology, as well as its importance in agriculture. It explains the techniques for the study of nematodes including their morphology, anatomy, structure and systematics; and the outline classification of the nematode fauna of Pakistan. The textbook also provides for taxonomy of important parasitic nematode genera along with their parasitism and habitat. It has a chapter on the most important nematodes including; root-knot and cyst nematodes; their life cycles, diseases caused by them, as well as disease symptoms, etiology and their management. Nematode-microbe interaction, nematode population dynamics and crop/yield loss assessment, also make part of the book. Exclusive chapters on nematodes as vectors of plant viruses, entomopathogenic nematodes and molecular nematology are also included in the book.

The authors hope that this “Textbook of Plant Nematology” with a touch of Pakistan perspective, would serve as a major guide book for students of Plant Nematology, Plant Pathology, Plant Protection, Microbiology, Environment, and Agriculture as a whole. Though the intended audiences of the book are students and researchers; the extension personnel, growers and those working in crop production and crop protection, would also benefit.

The book has been dedicated to the initiators of the science of Nematology in Pakistan but especially to the two dedicated Pakistani Nematologists, who got this science recognized in Pakistan, established Pakistan Society of Nematologists (PSN) and the National Nematological Research Centre (NNRC), i.e., Dr. M.A.  Maqbool (1941-2016) and Prof. Dr. Shahina Fayyaz (1959-2020), who not only assisted Dr. Maqbool in all his endeavours, but further strengthened the NNRC, the PSN, and the Pakistan Journal of Nematology (PJN).

The authors were very grateful to the two outstanding champions of agricultural research for writing the Forewords to the book; a living legend and developer of Pakistan’s National Agricultural Research System and the Founder Chairman of Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC)- Dr. Amir Muhammed and Dr. Z. A.  Handoo, a very senior Nematologist at the US Department of Agriculture, ARS, Beltsville, MD, USA.

Publication of the book has been sponsored by Pakistan Science Foundation through Pakistan Society of Nematologists.

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