Abstract: Plant-parasitic nematodes, the second destructive pathogens in agriculture, could not only attack their host using various strategies and induce profound changes in plants, but also cause secondary diseases following tissue damage, which always heavily influence the growth and productivity of crops. So it is extremely urgent to find effective nematicides. There are four main methods for nematode control:agricultural control, physical control, chemical control and biological control. Among them, biological control is a new method for plant-parasitic nematode control using animals, plants, microorganisms and their secondary metabolites. As one kind of secondary metabolites, phytochemicals are the core of botanical pesticides. Comparing to synthetic nematicides, plant-derived nematicides are more kindly to environment, more toxic to target organisms, less toxic to nontarget organisms and unlikely to generate nematode resistance. Therefore it is significant to develop new green nematicides using nematicidal chemicals isolated from plants. Herein, nematicidal plants from Asteraceae, Leguminosae and Labiatae, nematicidal phytochemicals including alkaloids, terpenes, isothiocyanates, glucosinolates and phenolics, their action mechanisms against pests and the applications of plant-origin nematicides were reviewed. Plant-derived nematicides are not only helpful to the control of plant-parasitic nematodes, but are also friendly to the environment and human. We hope that more researchers could pay attention on the research of nematicidal plants, their secondary metabolites and their nematicidal mechanism which will contribute to the control of plant-parastic nematodes and the finding of more lead compounds for nematicides.

Key words: plant-parasitic nematodes, nematicidal plants, nematicidal phytochemicals, action mechanism, plant-origin nematicides