Pathogenicity and reproduction of three South Carolina populations of Meloidogyne arenaria race 2 (designated Florence, Govan, and Pelion), a Florida population of M. arenaria race 1, and a South Carolina population of M. incognita race 3 were compared in greenhouse experiments on the soybean cultivars Centennial, Coker 6738, Coker 6847, Kirby, and Perrin. In one experiment, all race 2 populations of M. arenaria produced more galls, egg masses, and eggs per gram of fresh root than the race 1 population on all cultivars. The Florence and Govan populations exhibited greater reproduction than the Pelion population on Centennial, Coker 6738, and Kirby, and the Florence population had greater reproduction than the Govan population on Perrin. In another experiment, a series of six inoculum densities between 500 and 20 000 eggs per plant were used. At most inoculum levels, the Florence population of M. arenaria race 2 had nearly 10-fold greater reproduction on 'Davis' soybean than either M.
