COMPETITION BETWEEN PRATYLENCHUS ZEAEAND MELOIDOGYNE INCOGNITAON SUGARCANE

Abstract

Mixed populations of nematodes involving sedentary endoparasites (Meloidogynespp.) and the migratory endoparasite Pratylenchus zeaeare frequent in sugarcane production areas, but details about the competition
between these nematodes is not well known. This study aimed to evaluate the competition between M. incognitaand P. zeae, as well as the effect of mixed populations on sugarcane. The study was divided into two experiments with four treatments. One experiment used an initial population of 1,000 P. zeaeper plant
and varied M. incognitainoculum levels from 0 to 4,000 eggs per plant. The other experiment consisted of an initial population density of 2,000 eggs of M. incognitaand P. zeaelevels ranging from 0 to 2,000 nematodes per plant. Ninety days after inoculation the increase in the initial population of one of the species
caused a reduction in the reproduction of the other species although both species significantly increased their populations on sugarcane. With the same inoculum level, P. zeaeshowed greater reproductive capacity than M. incognita. Sugarcane growth was not affected by the nematodes at the levels studied. This research
indicates that P. zeaeis more competitive than M. incognitaon sugarcane.