Efficacy of root digestion and maceration in determining abundance of rootinhabiting nematodes

Abstract

Alternatives were sought to the standard root staining and plate counting technique for determining abundance of rootinhabiting plant parasitic nematodes as it is time consuming and laborious The use of KOH cellulase pectinase EDTA sodium hypochlorite bleach root staining or tap water alone or in combination with heating or maceration in a Waring blender was investigated as tools for extracting the root knot (Meloidogyne) clover cyst (Heterodera) and lesion (Pratylenchus) nematodes from white clover (Trifolium repens) roots Abundance of nematodes extracted from and remaining in roots after maceration was determined to assess the efficacy of the various treatments The best method involved staining roots by the standard method followed by a 10 second pulse of blender maceration For seedlings extraction of M trifoliophila nematodes by the best maceration method was not significantly different to that of the standard method but macerated samples took ca 6x less time to assess than the standard method