Nematocidal Potential of Synthetic Phenyl Azide Derivatives Against False Root-Knot Nematode ( Nacobbus aberrans ) Under In Vitro Conditions

The primary strategy for managing Nacobbus aberrans has traditionally relied on synthetic chemicals. However, increasing regulatory pressure on unsafe products has led to a growing research focus on nematicides. Despite this, chemical nematicides remain more effective than other control methods. Consequently, there is a pressing need to develop novel nematicides that are both effective and environmentally safer. This study aimed to evaluate the nematocidal efficacy of various synthetic molecules against the second-stage juveniles of N. aberrans , the false root-knot nematode. A total of fifty-eight synthetic derivatives were obtained and tested in vitro at a concentration of 500 µg/mL. The results identified the AGAz family as the most promising, with AGAz-3 (LC 50 : 52.7 µg/mL) and AGAz-4 (LC 50 : 103.22 µg/mL) surpassing the efficacy of chitosan. Our findings emphasize the strong potential of AGAz-3 and AGAz-4 as nematocidal agents, particularly for in situ applications in agricultural settings. Additionally, AGAz-3 demonstrates potential not only as a nematocidal agent but also as an incentive for related research exploring its analogs as effective ovicidal compounds and investigating its efficacy against other phytonematodes. Furthermore, compounds from the N -Sulfonyl-hydrazone and N -acyl-hydrazone series showed efficacy (>50%), warranting additional experiments to assess their effectiveness across the most important pest phytonematodes.