Plant Protection, 06 (01) 2022. 23-33 DOI: 10.33804/pp.006.01.4115 23 Available Online at EScience Press Plant Protection ISSN: 2617-1287 (Online), 2617-1279 (Print) http://esciencepress.net/journals/PP OCCURRENCE OF PLANT PARASITIC NEMATODES FROM DIFFERENT FRUIT GROWING AREAS OF BAJAUR, KHYBER PAKHTUNKHWA, PAKISTAN Sami Ullah, Tabassum Ara Khanum National Nematological Research Centre, University of Karachi, Karachi-75270, Pakistan. A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T Article history Received: 14 th March, 2022 Revised: 15 th April, 2022 Accepted: 18 th April, 2022 Agriculture is the most important sector of Pakistan. Effective improvement in agricultural productivity depends on appropriate crop protection from pests and diseases. Among these, the nematode problem in agricultural productivity is of significant importance. Plant-parasitic nematodes are one of the limiting factors in agricultural production. The economic importance of nematodes is well recognized all over the world as most agricultural crops are damaged by their continuous feeding on roots, buds, stems, crowns, leaves, and even seeds, resulting in low yield and poor quality fruits. The present study was conducted in 12 localities of district Bajaur, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. A total of 200 samples of soil and roots of different crops and vegetables, grown in adjoining areas were collected and 22 nematode species were identified belonging to 5 orders, 11 families, and 12 genera, in which 18% were soil nematodes whereas 81% were plant-parasitic nematodes. Keywords Plant parasitic nematodes Bajaur soil nematodes prevalence Corresponding Author: Tabassum Ara Khanum Email: tabassumak@uok.edu.pk © 2022 EScience Press. All rights reserved. INTRODUCTION Agricultural production is the pillar of Pakistan's economy. Economy of Pakistan depends on the development of agriculture (Ali et al., 2013). This represents 31% of overall national products and benefits 70% of the population, directly or indirectly (Anonymous, 2019). The production of agricultural crops is significantly affected by many pests and various diseases, and the issue of nematodes poses a serious risk. In Pakistan it is more serious than that of other underdeveloped countries (Rehman et al., 2015; Sanaullah and Urooba, 2019). The very same situation exists in district Bajaur, because the climate is suitable and the land is very fertile and most of the land is under agriculture. Nematodes also cause damages to agriculture of Bajaur and reduce crop production, because nematodes affect farming. District Bajaur is a newly merged district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. District Bajaur has two main sub-divisions Khar which consists of tehsils of Khar, Salarzai, Utmankhel, and nawagai comprises tehsils of Nawagai, Chamarkand, Mamund, and Barang. In Bajaur, the cultivated area under irrigation covers approximately 2739.22 hectares and over 74426 hectares is barani (un-irrigated) and around 20003.99 hectares are uncultivated. Of the total cultivation fields, three fourths depends upon precipitation and managed by farmers. There is a potential for developing agriculture in the Bajaur region, but most of the agriculture depends on groundwater. The main agricultural areas in the district Bajaur receive about 800 mm of average rainfall per annum. In Bajaur there are two distinct seasons Rabi and Kharif. Main crops and vegetables are grown in the region are Maize, Rice (paddy crop), wheat, tomato, okra, squash, shimla rapeseed and mustard, eggplant, tenda and