Reaction of strawberry cultivars to root-knot and root-lesion nematodes

ABSTRACT Considering the economic importance of strawberry in Brazil, with a clear migration trend from the soil to innovative systems on substrates, it is fundamental to evaluate the available cultivars in the market regarding tolerance to pathogens with potential for infestation. The reaction of eight commercial strawberry cultivars (Festival, Camino Real, Camarosa, Oso Grande, Monterey, San Andreas, Aromas, and Albion) to Meloidogyne and Pratylenchus species was evaluated. Strawberry cultivars were maintained in individual pots with sterilized soil and inoculated with 5,000 eggs + second stage juveniles of Meloidogyne arenaria, M. incognita, M. javanica or M. hapla or 1,000 specimens of Pratylenchus zea or P. brachyurus per plant. The experiment was carried out in a completely randomized design with six replications using tomato ‘Rutgers’ and sorghum ‘506’ plants as control to root-knot and lesion nematodes, respectively. Ninety days after inoculation, the nematode reproduction factor (RF= final population/initial population) was evaluated to determine the resistance of the strawberry genotypes to each nematode species. All cultivars behaved as resistant (FR<1.00) or immune (FR= 0.00) to M. javanica, M. incognita, P. zeae and P. brachyurus. The cultivar ‘Camarosa’ was susceptible (FR>1.00) to M. arenaria and M. hapla and ‘Oso Grande’ behaved as a good host to M. hapla; however, the other cultivars were resistant to these two Meloidogyne species. The assessed cultivars are poor hosts, being an alternative to be used in infested areas with these pests.