VIEW ARTICLE

Disease Control and Pest Management

Reproduction, Penetration, and Pathogenicity of Pratylenchus penetrans on Tobacco, Vegetables, and Cover Crops. P. M. Miller, Plant Pathologist, Department of Plant Pathology, The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, New Haven, CT 06504; Phytopathology 68:1502-1504. Accepted for publication 1 May 1978. Copyright © 1978 The American Phytopathological Society, 3340 Pilot Knob Road, St. Paul, MN 55121. All rights reserved.. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-68-1502.

Thirteen cover or forage crops, 14 vegetable crops, eight tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) cultivars, and four tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) cultivars were examined in the greenhouse for susceptibility to root penetration by Pratylenchus penetrans. Of the cover and forage crops tested, Saranac alfalfa (Medicago sativa) and alsike clover (Trifolium hybridum) had the largest populations of P. penetrans per total root mass, while timothy (Phleum pratense) and reed canary grass (Phalaris arundinacea) had the smallest. Cucumber (Cucumis sativus), pea (Pisum sativum), and pumpkin (Cucurbita pepo) roots also contained large populations of P. penetrans, but none was found in asparagus (Asparagus officinalis) roots. Differences in root populations of P. penetrans occurred within cultivars of several crops. Neither root necrosis nor plant height, both indicators of damage by P. penetrans, were consistently correlated with P. penetrans populations within the roots. Knowledge of a plant’s interaction with P. penetrans may enable the management of P. penetrans populations in the field by proper selection of crop plants.