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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) » Beltsville Agricultural Research Center » Mycology and Nematology Genetic Diversity and Biology Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #413965
Research Project: Plant-associated Nematode Management and Systematics and USDA Nematode Collection Curation

Location: Mycology and Nematology Genetic Diversity and Biology Laboratory

Title: Preliminary evaluation of nematode community responses to ground covers in jute leaf cultivation

Author
item Waldo, Benjamin
item ARLOTTA, CAITLIN - University Of District Of Columbia
item Richardson, Matthew

Submitted to: Advances in Horticultural Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/19/2025
Publication Date: 5/28/2025
Citation: Waldo, B.D., Arlotta, C.G., Richardson, M.L. 2025. Preliminary evaluation of nematode community responses to ground covers in jute leaf cultivation. Advances in Horticultural Science. 39(1):11-20. https://doi.org/10.36253/ahsc-16960.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.36253/ahsc-16960

Interpretive Summary: Nematodes are microscopic roundworms that live in soil with plant roots. Most nematodes are beneficial to soil health, but some nematodes feed on plant roots. Jute leaf is an emerging ethnic crop in the US that can suffer yield losses in subtropical regions from plant feeding nematodes. Opportunities for growing ethnic crop plants are being explored by small acreage farmers in the mid-Atlantic US, but little information is available about responses of nematode communities. Researchers conducted an experiment to study associations of nematodes naturally occurring in a Maryland with jute leaf produced under different mulches. The results showed that jute leaf plots mulched with straw had higher numbers of several beneficial free-living nematode groups at the end of the growing season, but these plots also had higher numbers of total harmful plant-feeding nematodes. This preliminary information indicates mulch selection can impact nematode communities in jute leaf production. This information will help farmers make management decisions to benefit soil health.

Technical Abstract: Jute leaf (Corchorus olitorius) is an emerging ethnic crop in the mid-Atlantic US. Little information is available on nematode associations and nematode community responses to jute leaf grown under mulch in Maryland. A preliminary field study was conducted in the summer of 2023 in Beltsville, Maryland to evaluate the response of endemic nematode communities to three jute leaf cultivars and four mulch treatments. Nematodes were extracted from soil samples collected before planting, at midseason, and at harvest. By the end of the season, straw mulch plots had higher counts of Prismatololaimus, Mononchus and total plant-parasites and wood chip plots had higher Helicotylenchus counts. Structure index and maturity index 2-5 were also both higher in straw mulched plots at the end of the season. Cultivar had a relatively small impact on the nematode community with significant differences in Plectus counts and predator counts occurring only at midseason sampling. Channel index and enrichment index results indicated a shift occurred with all treatments to a soil environment dominated by bacterial decomposition pathways with nutrient enriched conditions, but plant biomass was not different between treatments. These preliminary results suggest mulching can influence soil nematode communities in Maryland jute leaf production.