Estimation of species composition of Meloidogyne spp. Mixed populations using differential host plants

Abstract

Populations consisting of Meloidogyne incognita race 1, 2, 3, M. javanica or M. hapla collected in Kyushu were inoculated to the North Carolina standard hosts and sweet potato cultivars, Norin 1 and Norin 2 with a standardized inoculation method adding 1, 000 second-stage juveniles to each potted differential host plant. Meloidogyne spp. and races were distinguishable by the host or nonhost status of the differential host plants. When artificially mixed M. incognita race 1 and M. javanica were inoculated to tobacco (NC95) and pepper, suppressive interference of the latter against the former seemed to occur, but a linear fomula could be applied to extrapolate the ratio of species in a naturally occurring mixed populations previously estimated morphologically. This method may be useful in estimating the ratio of Meloidogyne spp. present in mixed popula-tions, but further work remains to be done on other Meloidogyne spp. and races.