Disease Note. Root Disease of Centrosema pascuorum Caused by the Javanese Root-Knot Nematode in the Cerrado Region of Brazil. R. D. Sharma, EMBRAPA/Centro de Pesquisa Agropecuária dos Cerrados, Caixa Postal 70.0023 Planaltina-DF, Brasil. B. Grof, EMBRAPA/Centro de Pesquisa Agropecuária dos Cerrados, Caixa Postal 70.0023 Planaltina-DF, Brasil. Plant Dis. 72:546. Accepted for publication 2 March 1988. Copyright 1988 The American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/PD-72-0546B.
Centrosema pascuorum Benth. is a native tropical American annual
herbaceous, twining plant mainly grown experimentally as a pasture
legume in Central and South America. Twelve accessions of this legume
were sown at the beginning of the rainy season in November 1986 on a
dark red latosol in the Cerrado region of Brazil. All the accessions
germinated well and remained green until the end of February 1987,
after which the plants showed symptoms of unthrifty growth. The
leaves of affected plants turned yellow, dried, and eventually withered.
None of the accessions flowered and all senesced prematurely. Root
systems of diseased plants were severely galled, and examination
revealed different stages of root-knot nematode. Microscopic
examinations of the perineal pattern of adult females showed that each
accession was infected with the Javanese root-knot nematode,
Meloidogyne javanica (Treub) Chitwood. This legume is a hitherto
unrecorded host of Javanese root-knot nematode (1).
|