author(s)
Sujata and GC Sharma

abstract
The present investigations were carried out during the year 2015-16. Soil samples were collected from the rhizosphere of the commercial vegetable crops (pea, potato and cabbage) and fruit crops (apple, apricot and almond) of the tribal district Kinnaur in Himachal Pradesh. All the three developmental blocks of the district (Kalpa, Pooh and Nichar) were covered under the study. Four nematodes viz., lesion nematode (Pratylenchus coffeae), stunt nematode (Tylenchorhynchus mashhoodi), spiral nematodes (Helicotylenchus dihystera) and juveniles (J2) of root knot nematode (Meloidogyne sp.) were found prevalent in the rhizosphere of all the vegetable and fruit crops, with their considerable population build up. Among fruit crops, apple orchards were found harbouring highest population of all the nematodes, followed by apricot and almond, with lesion nematode as most predominant both in terms of its frequency of occurrence (100 %) and population density (299-384/ 200 cc soil). Among vegetable crops, pea was found most sensitive to nematode infestation and was having a maximum population build up of all the four nematodes (305,326, 252 and 244/ 200 cc soil, respectively). In all the three vegetables, maximum population density was recorded for stunt nematode (269-326/ 200 cc soil). All the localities of Kalpa block were found having highest nematode populations in both fruits and vegetable crops rhizosphere. Although, there was recorded positive impact of soil temperature and moisture on the buildup of different nematode population, both in fruit and vegetable crops, their impact did not remain considerable on the population of all the nematodes.