STRUCTURAL DIVERSITY OF PLANT PARASITIC NEMATODES ASSOCIATED WITH DATE-PALM CULTIVARS IN EGYPT

Abstract

Soil and root samples were collected from various orchards of date-palm cultivars. Data indicated that, in general, date-palm trees in Egypt are attacked by twelve or thirteen important plant-parasitic nematode genera which were recovered from Nile Delta and Upper Egypt Governorates, respectively, with different population densities, frequencies of occurrence and prominence values. In Nile-Delta Governorates, the spiral nematodes (Helicotylenchus spp.), the stunt nematode (Tylenchorhynchus spp.), the root lesion nematodes (Pratylenchus spp.) and the root-knot nematodes (Meloidogyne spp.) were the most frequently encountered nematodes with relatively high population densities, frequencies of occurrence and prominence values. In Upper Egypt Governorates, Meloidogyne spp., Helicotylenchus spp., the reniform nematodes, Rotylenchulusspp., Tylenchorhynchus spp., and Pratylenchus spp., achieved the highest values of population density, frequency of occurrence and prominence values in most surveyed orchards of date-palm..