Skip to main content
ARS Home » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #93244
Title: RESISTANCE TO ROTYLENCHULUS RENIFORMIS AND MELOIDOGYNE INCOGNITA RACE 3 IN THE MAJOR COTTON CULTIVARS PLANTED SINCE 1950

Author
item Robinson, Arin
item COOK, CHARLES - USDA-ARS, RESIGNED
item Percival Jr, Albert

Submitted to: Crop Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/10/1998
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: The primary goal of this research was to assess progress in the development of nematode resistant cultivars of Upland and Pima cotton in the United States during the last half of this century, to identify the most promising strategies for developing new nematode resistant cultivars. We identified the 59 highest ranking Upland and Pima cotton cultivars, in terms of cumulative acreages planted in the United States since 1950, and directly compared root-knot and reniform nematode reproduction on each cultivar under controlled conditions. Root-knot and reniform nematodes are the two most important nematode pests on cotton. The results indicated that significant levels of nematode resistance in cotton had been developed by three breeding programs, which started more than a quarter of a century ago. These breeders (Ray Shepherd, Angus Hyer, and Jack Jones) selected for nematode resistance by measuring nematode reproduction in pot experiments, and economic levels of nematode resistance appear to have become available in commercial cultivars only within the last several years. It was revealed that nematode resistance in commercial cottons is effective only against the root-knot nematode; no cultivar, including those grown in California, Arizona, and New Mexico, where the reniform nematode has not yet been found, had any appreciable resistance to the reniform nematode. It was also clear that several advanced cotton germplasm lines developed by the USDA and Mississippi State University far exceed the level of root-knot nematode resistance currently available in any commercial cultivar.

Technical Abstract: Fifty-five cultivars of Upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) and 4 of Pima cotton (G. barbadense L.), comprising the most widely planted cultivars in each major production region of the United States each decade since 1950, were evaluated in growth chambers for resistance to the two most widespread and economically important nematode pests of cotton, Rotylenchulus reniformis Linford & Oliveira (a reniform nematode) and race of 3 of Meloidogyne incognita (Kofoid & White) Chitwood (a root-knot nematode). ¿Deltapine 16¿ and the highly M. incognita resistant germplasm line Auburn 623 RNR, respectively, served as susceptible and resistant controls. All cultivars supported prolific reproduction by R. reniformis. Resistance did not explain the absence of R. reniformis west of Texas. Reproduction by M. incognita on the cultivars tested ranged from 4 to 294% of that on the susceptible control. A gradual increase from 1950 to 1996 in the general level of resistance to M. incognita was not evident. Three recently released cultivars, Stoneville LA887, Paymaster (formerly Hartz) 1560, and CPCSD Acala Nem-X, were more resistant than any other cultivar to M. incognita yet highly susceptible to R. reniformis.