ARS | Publication request: Meloidogyne Species Within Alternative Tomato Production Systems

Submitted to: Journal of Nematology
Publication Type: Abstract
Publication Acceptance Date: May 1, 2004
Publication Date: December 1, 2004
Citation: Church, G.T., Chellemi, D.O., Rosskopf, E.N. 2004. Meloidogyne species within alternative tomato production systems. Journal of Nematology. 36(3):312.

Technical Abstract: Many Meloidogyne species are parasitic on tomato and when not effectively managed cause significant reductions in yield. Alternative production practices and cropping systems have the potential to manage nematode populations without the use of soil fumigation with methyl bromide. Five different land management programs were investigated for their effect on the incidence of root galling by Meloidogyne species. Fields were managed for three years under the following programs: conventional tomato production using soil fumigation with 1,3-dichloropropene plus chloropicrin, organic production utilizing cover crops and organic amendments, weed fallow, disk fallow, and establishment of bahiagrass pasture. In the fourth year a section of land under each management program was cultivated to tomato. Gall rating and soil samples were taken from the rhizosphere from each replicated treatment at mid-season and prior to tomato harvest. Soil collected at mid-season was placed in 13cm diameter pots and Lycopersicon esculentum cv. Rutgers transplants were placed in each pot. Five female root-knot nematodes were extracted from each root system and identified to species using esterase and malate dehydrogenase enzyme phenotypes. The weed fallow treatment had a significantly higher mean gall rating of 8.25 (0 to 10 scale) prior to harvest of field-grown tomatoes and M. incognita, M. floridensis, and M. javanica were identified. Meloidogyne incognita was identified from a single plot from the program utilizing a bahiagrass pasture prior to tomato production. Meloidogyne floridensis was identified from a single conventional plot. All other treatments, with the exception of the organic program, had a mean gall ratings ranging from 0.5 to 1.5. The weed fallow treatment supported a higher and more diverse population of root-knot nematodes species.