The pine wood nematode Bursaphelenchus xylophilus (Steiner and Buhrer) Nickle (PWN) is the causal agent of “Pine wilt disease” affecting coniferous forests, and since its detection in 1999 in Portugal, has obligated the European Union to take action to prevent its spread (Decision 2006/133/CE). The main measure applied is the International Standard for Phytosanitary Measures ISPM No. 15 (ISPM 15). Although this Standard is applied in the wood industry, wood packaging materials have been found infested with PWN. There may be several reasons, these being, inadequate application of the Standard, post-treatment contamination, or resistance forms of the nematode under the ISPM 15 conditions. To clarify this fact, the aim of this paper has been to assess in vitro and in vivo the temperature required to kill nematodes 100 %. The tests were carried out using Pinus pinaster samples and subjected to conventional heat treatment in an oven. The assay temperatures were 56, 63 and 70ºC applied in different time periods. The test blocks used were cut from green and dry wood. Half of each type was pre-infected with blue stain fungi in order to evaluate the effectiveness in the most realistic conditions. The results showed that the lethal temperature in vitro and in wood, was 63 ºC during 30 minutes or 70 ºC during 15 minutes, implying that the 56 ºC used in the Standard may not be sufficient to eliminate the total PWN present in wood packaging material.

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