Calcium Cyanamide and other Artificial Fertilisers in the Treatment of Soil infected with Heterodera schachtii

Abstract

During the course of experimental work on the factors governing the escape of larvae from the cysts of Heterodera schachtii, a preliminary series of experiments was carried out to determine whether the admixture of artificial fertilisers with infected soil modified in any way the rate of hatching of the larvae. It was thought possible, firstly, that some form of fertiliser might have a lethal effect on the cyst contents or on the larvae during their passage through the soil before they succeeded in entering the roots of the host; secondly, that the fertiliser or its break-down products in soil might neutralise or retard the action of potato-root excretion, which normally stimulates the larvae to escape from the cysts and attracts them towards the roots of the plant; or thirdly, that the larvae might be stimulated to hatch to some extent even in the absence of the host-plant.