Susceptibility of weeds and vegetable crops of Iran to Meloidogyne incognita

ABSTRACT: In a field experiment, twenty species of weeds from 11 families and four species of vegetable plants were examined for their susceptibility to Meloidogyne incognita, based on the number of galls/gram of root, number of egg masses/gram of root, final population of the nematode and nematode reproduction factor. Differences in galling, egg mass production, final population and nematode reproduction factor of M. incognita were observed for some weeds as well as tested vegetables crops. Maximum susceptibility of examined weeds was recorded for Solanum nigrum, followed by Chenopodium album, Verbena officinalis, Atriplex persicum, Atriplex tartaric, Amaranthus chlorostachys, Physalis alkekengi and Amaranthus reteroflexus. Among the vegetable crops, only Lepidium sativum was significantly infected by the nematode. Other crops (Alium cepa, Ocimum bacilicum, and Raphanus sativum) as well as weeds (Atriplex lasiantha, Chenopodium foliosum, Digitaria nodosa, Erigeron candensis, Inula britanica, Lactuca serriola, Malva nicaensis, Menta langifolia, Omi majus, Polygonum aviculare, Polypogon monspeliansis and Sonchus asper) were non host to the nematode.