Abstract

The effect of eight oat cultivars on the end-of-season population density of the root lesion nematode Pratylenchus thornei was determined in the field in two seasons in the Wimmera region of Victoria. There was no difference among the oat cultivars tested on their effect on final population density of P. thornei. The oat cultivars tested were all found to result in significantly lower population densities of P. thornei than the susceptible wheat but population densities were similar to, or slightly higher than, the resistant barley and bare fallow treatments. Oat was regarded as a crop with useful resistance that can be grown in paddocks to reduce the population density of P.  thornei.