Nematodes (Nematoda) in Polish Forests. I. Species Inhabiting Soils of Nurseries

Abstract

The paper presents the results of the analysis of 472 soil samples collected in the 1986-1987 time period, from 209 forest nurseries located in different regions of Poland. In total, 119 species of nematodes belonging to 56 genera were found: 64 species considered as plant feeders - parasites of higher plants, 34 species classified as fungal, epidermal cell and plant root hair feeders, 12 species of predatory nematodes, 2 species of omnivorous and 6 species of bacterial feeders. The most frequent species was Aphelenchus avenae which occurred in 45% of samples, followed by Paratylenchus projectus 22%, A. saprophilus 21%, A. bicaudatus 20%, P. pachydermus 20%, Trichodorus sparsus 20%, Aphelenchoides composticola 18%, A. parietinus 18%, Pratylenchus crenatus 17%, Bitylenchus dubius 14%, and P. penetrans 11%. Several species were very abundant e.g. maximal population density (number of specimens in 200 cm 3 of soil) of Cephalenchus hexalin- eatus was 3,180 individuals, of A. saprophilus 2,500 individuals, of Filenchus nemorosus 2,450 specimens, of Ditylenchus anchilisposomus 850 individuals, of Meloidogyne hapla 800 individuals, of Coslenchus costatus 560 individuals, of B. dubius 410 specimens, and of Roty- lenchus robustus 400 specimens. Nematode communities very poor in omnivorous and predatory species indicated that soil quality in the forest nurseries was very low. Such a finding means that seedlings could be less resistant to parasites and pathogens. The obtained results indicated that P. penetrans, R. robustus and species belonging to the family Trichodoridae could inhibit the growth of seedlings in nurseries.