“…Several methods have been developed to distinguish between living and dead potato cyst nematodes, such as 'pricking' individual eggs (Fielding, 1951), the 'kinked juveniles' method (Stanisland & Stone, 1953), colouring with various dyes (e.g., Boyd, 1941;Kämpfe, 1956;Fenner, 1962;Shepherd, 1962), bioassays (Hijink, 1971), hatching tests (Fenwick, 1949(Fenwick, , 1950a and measuring the adenosine triphosphate (ATP) content of nematodes (Atkinson & Ballantyne, 1977a, b). Most of these methods have severe disadvantages, especially when used to evaluate nematicide trials.…”