P-238 - Unpacking the concept of inoculum potential: a bibliometric analysis of its usage since 1932

The concept of inoculum potential (IP) was coined in 1932 by James G. Horsfall for the epidemiological characterization of pathosystems. Its usage has evolved over time with the emergence of other equivalent terms such as inoculum amount (IA), inoculum concentration (IC), inoculum density (ID), inoculum level (IL), inoculum size (IS), and inoculum volume (IV). The relative usage of IP and other equivalent terms is not known. A bibliometric analysis was conducted to provide an appraisal of the usage of IP relative to other equivalent terms used in the phytopathological literature between 1932 and 2024. Although the usage of IP increased over time, it has been surpassed by the usage of IC, ID, IL, IS, and IV.  Results indicate that IP has been used explicitly to express IA, IC, ID, and IL at a low frequency, with number of search hits varying between 5 and 22. The usage of IP, IA, IC, ID, IL, IS, and IV was explored in the literature on major groups of microorganisms such as fungi (F), bacteria (B), mycorrhizae (M), nematodes (N), and viruses (V). The highest numbers of hits recorded for IP were in the F group with over 300, and in the M group with over 200. When the usage of IP, IA, IC, ID, IL, IS, and IV was examined in conjunction with disease management tools such as biocontrol, the highest numbers of hits were recorded with IP used together with tools pertaining to mycorrhizae. IP is a dense concept, with no explicit meaning.  Its usage was found to be lower than that of other terms, which are being used increasingly because they have an explicit quantitative meaning.