Suppression Mechanisms of Meloidogyne arenaria Race 1 by Pasteuria penetrans

Authors

  • Z. X. Chen
  • D. W. Dickson
  • D. J. Mitchell
  • R. McSorley
  • T. E. Hewlett

Abstract

The biological control of Meloidogyne arenaria on peanut (Arachis hypogaea) by Pasteuria penetrans was evaluated using a six x six factorial experiment in field microplots over 2 years. The main factors were six inoculum levels of second-stage juveniles (J2) of M. arenaria race 1 (0, 40, 200, 1,000, 5,000, and 25,000 J2/microplot, except that the highest level was 20,000 J2/microplot in 1995) and six infestation levels of P. penetrans as percentages of J2 with endospores attached (0, 20, 40, 60, 80, and 100%). The results were similar in 1994 and 1995. Numbers of eggs per root system, J2 per 100 cm³ soil at harvest, root galls, and pod galls increased with increasing nematode inoculum levels and decreased with increasing P. penetrans infestation levels (P = 0.05), except that there was no effect of P. penetrans infestation levels on J2 per 100 cm³ soil in 1994 (P 0.05). There were no statistical interaction effects between the inoculum levels of J2 and the infestation levels of P. penetrans (P 0.05). When the infestation level was increased by 10%, the number of eggs per root system, root galls, and pod galls decreased 7.8% to 9.4%, 7.0% to 8.5%, and 8.0% to 8.7% in 1994 and 1995, respectively, whereas J2 per 100 cm³ soil decreased 8.8% in 1995 (P = 0.05). The initial infestation level of P. penetrans contributed 81% to 95% of the total suppression of pod galls, whereas the infection of J2 of the subsequent generations contributed only 5% to 19% suppression of pod galls. The major suppressive mechanism of M. arenaria race 1 by P. penetrans on peanut is the initial endospore infestation of J2 at planting. Key words: Arachis hypogaea, bacterium, biological control, endospore, Meloidogyne arenaria, Pasteuria penetrans, peanut, root-knot nematode.

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Published

1997-03-15

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Articles