Abstract
Meloidogyne spp. are among the most damaging plant-parasitic nematodes to golf course bermudagrass in the southern United States. Diagnostic samples processed by centrifugal flotation often recovered only low numbers of vermiform Meloidogyne spp. life stages (J2 and males) from soil, while roots were found to be heavily infested by sedentary life stages. Therefore, the University of Florida Nematode Assay Lab (NAL) evaluated mist extraction from turf plugs as a method for diagnosis of Meloidogyne spp. from golf course bermudagrass. Soil and turf plugs were obtained from 596 golf course bermudagrass small plots from multiple locations and cultivars over several years, and vermiform Meloidogyne spp. extracted from 100 cm3 of soil by centrifugal flotation and by mist chamber extraction from four 3.8-cm-diam. turf plugs were compared. Additionally, both extraction methods were performed on 431 golf course bermudagrass diagnostic samples received by the NAL from Florida, 36 golf course bermudagrass diagnostic samples from Texas, and 34 golf course bentgrass/bluegrass samples from California. In the small plots, and the bermudagrass samples from Florida and Texas, mist extraction had higher detection and recovery rates of vermiform Meloidogyne spp. than did centrifugal flotation. However, centrifugal flotation had higher detection and recovery rates than mist extraction from bentgrass/bluegrass samples from California. Mist extraction from turf plugs is superior to centrifugal flotation from soil for diagnosis of Meloidogyne spp. on golf course bermudagrass, but not on golf course bentgrass and bluegrass.
Highlights
Meloidogyne spp. are among the most damaging plant-parasitic nematodes to golf course bermudagrass in the southern United States
A typical turfgrass nematode diagnosis conducted by the University of Florida Nematode Assay Laboratory (NAL) and most other nematode diagnostic laboratories is based on nematodes recovered per volume of soil using centrifugal flotation (Jenkins, 1964) or a similar passive-extraction method
The first chamber was built from acrylic plexiglass sheets, we found that polycarbonite sheets experienced less warping, were less brittle, and were less expensive than acrylic plexiglass
Summary
Meloidogyne spp. are among the most damaging plant-parasitic nematodes to golf course bermudagrass in the southern United States. The University of Florida Nematode Assay Lab (NAL) evaluated mist extraction from turf plugs as a method for diagnosis of Meloidogyne spp. from golf course bermudagrass. During multiple field visits to golf courses with ultradwarf bermudagrass putting greens over the past two decades, chlorotic blotches, often round to oval in shape, that were not associated with known fungal pathogens, were observed by the Sr. author (Fig. 1) These blotches were very similar to those reported on creeping bentgrass greens in the United Kingdom infested with M. minor (Karssen et al, 2004). Abamectin greatly increased turf health in many of these trials, while having no measurable effect on sting nematode (Gu and Crow, 2018) In these trials, close observation revealed the turf roots were severely infested by M. graminis despite finding few, if any, M. graminis J2 in the soil, and those found often were unthrifty in appearance, being burdened by Pasteuria spp. attached to their cuticle or by fungal infection
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