Effect of Temperature on Infection and Survival of Rotylenchulus reniformis
Heald, C.M.; Inserra, R.N.
Journal of Nematology 20(3): 356-361
1988
ISSN/ISBN: 0022-300X PMID: 19290223 Document Number: 305883
From infestation of lettuce with preinfective females to egg deposition, populations of R. reniformis from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Lubbock and Weslaco, Texas, in USA, and Mayguez, Puerto Rico, required 41, 13, 7 and 7 days at 15, 20, 25 and 34 degrees C, respectively. No nematode infection occurred at 10 degrees C with any R. reniformis population, and the population from Puerto Rico did not reproduce at 15 degrees C. Nematode survival was not influenced by temperature, since populations from Texas and Louisiana survived for 6 months without a host at -5, -1, 4 and 25 degrees C. Survival of R. reniformis was substantially influenced by soil moisture. Soil moistures greater than 7% (<1 bar) aided nematode survival at storage temperature of 25 degrees C, whereas moisture adversely affected nematode survival below freezing. Soil moisture below 4% (>15 bars) favoured nematode survival below freezing but adversely affected nematodes in soils stored at 25 degrees C. Soil moisture effects on nematode survival were less accentuated at 4 and 0 degrees C.