VIEW ARTICLE

Ecology and Epidemiology

Interactions of Vesicular-Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi, Meloidogyne incognita, and Soil Fertility on Peach. N. E. Strobel, Department of Plant Pathology, University of Georgia, Athens 30602, Present address of senior author: Department of Agronomy, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853; R. S. Hussey(2), and R. W. Roncadori(3). (2)(3) Department of Plant Pathology, University of Georgia, Athens 30602. Phytopathology 72:690-694. Accepted for publication 4 September 1981. Copyright 1982 The American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-72-690.

Growth of cultivar Lovell peach trees infected with Meloidogyne incognita or free of the nematode was enhanced by Gigaspora margarita and Glomus etunicatus in some greenhouse tests, but not in others. Beneficial effects of the mycorrhizal fungi on growth were accompanied by improved foliar P, Cu, and Zn status and were greater on nematode-free plants grown in a soil with 500 μg than in one containing 1,000 μg 10-10-10 NPK per gram of soil. G. margarita suppressed reproduction of M. incognita only in tests where the fungus improved plant growth; however, G. etunicatus had no effect on nematode reproduction in either case. Sporulation of the fungi was not significantly affected by the nematode. In split-root studies involving G. margarita, the fungus suppressed nematode reproduction, and the nematode was injurious to growth of mycorrhizal plants only if both microorganisms occupied the same half-root system.