Incidence of Plant-Parasitic Nematodes in Strawberry Nursery and Nematode Dispersal by Daughter Plant

To survey the incidence of plant-parasitic nematode in strawberry nursery, 117 soil samples were collected from main producing area of strawberry nursery plants in 2016. The incidences of two major problematic nematodes such as root-lesion nematodes (Pratylenchus spp.) and root-knot nematodes (Meloidogyne spp.) were 11% and 3%, respectively. Strawberry nurseries using upland soil either in fields or in plastic-houses showed were higher infection rates of Pratylenchus spp. or Meloidogyne spp. than others. On the other hand, a strawberry nursery using pots filled with bed soil in plastic-house was the lowest infection rate with 0%. Phylogenetic relationships and distance analysis were performed for identification of Pratylenchus spp. and Meloidogyne spp. detected from strawberry nurseries. As the results, they were identified as Pratylenchus penetrans, Pratylenchus vulnus and Meloidogyne hapla. Meanwhile, when nursery plants of strawberry infested with P. vulnus transplanted to pots filled with sterilized soil, P. vulnus was detected from soil in pots as 33% frequency. Thus, P. vulnus can be spread through nursery plants of strawberry infested with that. These studies suggested that Pratylenchus spp. and Meloidogyne spp. were ploblematic nematodes in major areas of strawberry nursery plants and P. vulnus could be spread through nursery plants of strawberry.