Abstract
Earthworms can ingest large amounts of soil and litter and thus many nematodes. Several studies have actually shown a decrease in nematode populations in the presence of earthworms. We studied interactions between earthworms (the tropical peregrine Pontoscolex corethrurus) and plant-parasitic nematodes (Heterodera sacchari and Pratylenchus zeae) in the laboratory.In the presence of earthworms, we observed a significant decrease in populations of P. zeae in the rhizosphere of Oryza sativa after 6 weeks (1st generation), and 12 weeks (2nd generation), respectively, in comparison to a control with no earthworms. A parallel experiment with H. sacchari and P. corethrurus showed that H. sacchari cysts were ingested by earthworms with the soil, and the interaction between the gut and the gut contents of P. corethrurus and H. sacchari showed that i) populations of cysts had decreased 5 weeks (1st generation) after the start of the experiment, and ii) the total number of eggs and infesting larvae (J2 alive) had decreased.
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