Reproductive fitness of Meloidogyne artiellia populations on chickpea and durum wheat

The influence of chickpea and durum wheat, as crops widely used in rotations in the Mediterranean Basin, on the reproductive fitness of five Meloidogyne artiellia populations from Italy, Spain and Syria, was investigated under controlled conditions. The reproductive fitness of the M. artiellia populations, determined as the number of eggs per mature egg mass, was significantly greater in durum wheat cv. Simeto than in chickpea cv. UC 27 for all five nematode populations. Similarly, both in chickpea and durum wheat the reproductive fitness differed among nematode populations, with populations of M. artiellia from Castel del Monte (southern Italy) and CL5 (northern Spain) producing the greatest number of eggs per egg mass. The fewest number of eggs per egg mass of M. artiellia occurred for populations from Alhama 6 (southern Spain) and Tel-Hadya (northern Syria).