Biological criteria in management considerations for Meloidogyne chitwoodi

Abstract

In a potato-growing area of Northern California, heavily infested with Meloidogyne chitwoodi, cereal crops are grown in rotation with potatoes. Most cereal cultivars are highly susceptible to this nematode. In pot trials several cultivars of cereals and other crop plants supported low populations of M. chitwoodi and also of Pratylenchus neglectus which is present in this area; these could be used for the management of the nematodes in crop rotational programmes. Winter soil temperatures in the area are too high to use freeze-kill of M. chitwoodi as a management tool. Tuber blemish studies also showed that M. chitwoodi penetrate developing immature tubers but not mature suberized tubers.