Relationship Between Egg Viability and Population Densities of Meloidogyne incognita on Cotton

Authors

  • J. L. Starr

Abstract

Cotton seedlings were inoculated with a range of initial populations (Pi) of Meloidogyne incognita in greenhouse experiments to test the relationship between nematode population densities and egg viability. In two of three experiments, a significant (P 0.05) negative linear relationship was detected between percentage of hatch of first generation eggs and log Pi. A similar relationship between hatch and root-gall index was observed. In two experiments numbers of eggs judged to be nonviable based on appearance were significantly greater (P 0.05) in the highest Pi (60,000 eggs/seedling) treatments than in treatments with lower Pi (600-6,000 eggs/seedling). It was concluded that Pi affects egg viability measured as percentage of hatch and that this relationship may play a role in the density-dependent winter survival rates of Meloidogyne species. Key words: egg hatch, egg viability, Meloidogyne incognita, population dynamics, root-knot nematode, winter survival.

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Published

1988-10-15

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Section

Articles