The effect of different densities of Melodogyne ardenensis and of three populations of M. hapla on the growth of tomato at four soil temperatures

Abstract

Comparative studies by Stephan (1982) and Stephan and Trudgill (1982b) have shown that the reproduction of the root-knot nematode Meloidogyne ardenensis Santos and M. hapla Chitwood on tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) and Lonicera (Lonicera nitida L.) plants is strongly influenced by soil temperature. Oostenbrink (1966) and Seinhorst (1965, 1970) have indicated that crop damage caused by plant parasitic nematodes is related to the preplanting population density and the rate of reproduction of the nematode. M. hapla is considered to be a serious pest of many important crops (Barker et al., 1976; Belair and Estey, 1981; Griffin and Jorgenson, 1969; Townshend and Potter, 1978; Wong and Mai, 1973), the amount of damage being directly related to the initial population density. The effect of initial population density of M. ardenensis on the growth of tomato under controlled conditions has not been studied. Other research has indicated that, on a given host, populations of Meloidogyne species often have different optimum temperature requirements for maximum reproduction (Martin, 1954; Sasser and Nusbaum, 1955; Stephan and Trudgill, 1982a). Therefore, this study examined the effect of the initial population density of M. ardenensis and of three populations of M. hapla on the growth of tomato plants grown at different temperatures.