Pasteuria penetrans infecting Meloidogyne spp. in eggplant in Egypt

Abstract

A survey was undertaken in three different governorates of the newly reclaimed lands in Egypt, cultivated with different vegetable crops, to detect the presence of the endoparasitic bacterium Pasteuria penetrans on root-knot nematodes, Meloidogyne spp. Root and soil samples were collected in infected fields from the Shibin El-Kom and El-Sadat (El-Minufiya), El-Tahrir and Kom Hamada (El-Behira), and El-Salhiya (El-Sharkiya) regions. Pasteuria penetrans was detected on second-stage juveniles and females of Meloidogyne javanica, from eggplant, only in Kom Hamada, El-Behira governorate. Studies with the transmission electron microscope revealed that diameter and height of the endospores were 3.35 μm and 1.42 μm, respectively.