PCN cause growth retardation and, at very high population densities, damage to the roots and early senescence of plants.

After a feeding tube has been established, a syncytium begins to form through the breakdown of multiple cell walls adjacent to each other.

At the J4 stage, the body of the female nematode lies outside of the root while the head remains inside the cell.

[2] Both susceptible and resistant potato varieties will suffer from growth retardation at low and medium populations densities.

a number of varieties have been developed which can keep both potato cyst nematode species below damage and detection threshold, without the use of pesticides.

Other methods of pest control include nematicides such as fosthiazate (Nemathorin), aldicarb (Temik), oxamyl (Vydate) and fluopyram which are applied to the soil.

The use of certified disease free seed will also assure that potato cyst nematodes are not present due to planting infected tubers.

[4] The downside is that Solanum acaule is a wild potato species containing high glycoalkaloid content making it toxic for consumers.

The use of trap crops such as Solanum sisymbriifolium has been shown to reduce the density of PCN in soil by up to 80%, reducing the need for pesticide application[6] Potato cyst nematodes have the ability to cause a large scale devastation in crops due to the massive amounts of nematode embryos in each cyst.

[7] Potato cyst nematodes are important economically due to the fact that they can substantially reduce crop yields.