Monoxenic culture of Pratylenchus zeae on carrot discs

Abstract

Pratylenchus zeae is widespread on maize in Uganda but studies to aid in screening cultivars for resistance to this nematode have been constrained by lack of a cheap and reliable technique for raising inoculum. Use of excised maize roots to culture P. zeae is laborious in terms of media preparation and ensuring nematode penetration of roots. Sterile carrot discs are more cost effective and relatively less laborious for rearing most root-lesion nematodes but information on their effectiveness for P. zeae is lacking. The objective of this study was to assess the efficiency of sterile carrot discs in mass culturing of P. zeae collected from maize roots. The study revealed higher reproduction rates of P. zeae on carrot discs compared to excised maize roots.