Pathogenicity and control of Meloidogyne spp. on some spinach, Swiss chard, and table beet plant cultivars

The pathogenicity of the root-knot nematodes Meloidogyne arenaria, M. incognita and M. javanica on spinach cvs. ‘Balady’, ‘Barkly’, ‘Orient’, ‘Pacific’ and ‘Solanicy’, Swiss chard cvs. ‘Balady’ and ‘Ford Hook’, and table beet cvs. ‘Asgro Wonder’, ‘Balady’, ‘Detroit Dark’ and ‘Detroit Spainal’ was determined in several greenhouse tests. The results show that the tested chenopodiaceous plant cultivars were either susceptible or highly susceptible to the tested root-knot nematode species except spinach cv. ‘Pacific’ and table beet cv. ‘Asgro Wonder’ which exhibited moderately susceptible reaction to M. arenaria and M. javanica. In a separate control experiment, the pathogenicity of M. incognita on spinach cv. ‘Balady’ was studied in a greenhouse experiment. Soil treatments with dried plant materials of Monterey cypress, Brazil pepper-tree, lime and China tree induced great reductions (81.4-91.8%) in the numbers of root galls and egg masses of M. incognita on infected spinach plants. On the other hand, treatments with plant materials of blue gum tree, California pepper-tree, lantana and pomegranate gave 49.8-69.3% reduction of root galls and egg masses of M. incognita on infected spinach plants.