EFFECT OF SOME PLANT PARASITIC NEMATODES ON THE GROWTH OF SELECTED CROPS IN SRI LANKA

Abstract

Pot experiments in Sri Lanka indicated that Hoplolaimus seinhonti suppressed the growth of rice, cowpea, pepper, eggplant, tomato, black gram, soybean, pineapple and cacao; Xiphinema ifacolum and Meloidogyne arenaria race 1, M. incognita race 1 and M. javanica were pathogenic to two cultivars of soybean. However, M. javanica appeared to be more pathogenic on cv. Pbl and M. arenaria and M. incognita on cv. Caribe. All three species of Meloidogyne suppressed the growth of papaya seedlings but the effect of M. incognita and M. javanica was more severe compared to that of M. arenaria. M. incognita and M. javanica also negatively affected the growth of banana suckers, but M. arenaria did not. Although the three species of root-knot nematodes reproduced on pineapple, M. javanica at a higher rate compared to the others, none of them reduced the growth of suckers with respect to the control.