The diseases caused by plant parasitic nematodes are still a serious constraint to modern global crop production. An
increasing number of active compounds in commercial nematicidal formulations is being banned from use by common
policies of pest management. Farmer communities report a low efficiency for the replacement pesticides, which reflects
on crop yield and productivity. Novel sustainable biopesticides are urgently needed to cope with global food demands
while respecting the most recent environmental policies. Plant-nematode co-cultures offer a stable biotechnological
screening tool able to assess the active compound’s nematicidal activity and its effect on host tissues, simultaneously,
in an easily accessible system that simulates natural infection. These systems are being developed and optimized at the
Nematology laboratory of INIAV. Preliminary results were obtained for co-cultures of Solanum lycopersicum with the
nematode Meloidogyne ethiopica and S. tuberosum with Globodera pallida. Future studies will target other plant parasitic
nematodes, e.g., the root lesion nematodes (Pratylenchus penetrans) in transgenic roots of potato and the pinewood
nematode (Bursaphelenchus xylophilus) on in vitro pine shoots (Pinus sp.)