NEMATODE WORMS that devastate potato crops can be kept at bay by rotating
potatoes with genetically modified crops, say British researchers.
In badly infested fields, potato cyst nematodes can cut yields by up to 80
per cent. Eggs left in the soil the previous year hatch into larvae, which
burrow into the potato roots, scavenging nutrients and causing the plant to
wither and die. Females in the root swell up, eventually forming cysts
containing eggs, ready to continue the life cycle the following year.
Rotating potatoes with other crops should break the cycle. However, at
harvest some potatoes are always…
