Growth Response of Peach and Plum Rootstocks Infected with Pratylenchus vulnus in Microplots

The effects of Pratylenchus vulnus on growth and nutrition of Cadaman peach and Ishtara and Julior plum rootstocks were evaluated in a microplot experiment lasting two growing seasons. Cadaman peach was the only rootstock that showed suppressed growth for all growth parameters at the end of the first year. At the end of the second growing season, dry and fresh shoot weights as well as shoot length and root weights of Cadaman peach were reduced in nematode-inoculated microplots in comparison to uninoculated treatments. Stem diameter was not affected. Dry and fresh shoot weights were the only growth parameters affected by the nematode in Ishtara plum at the end of the second growing season, whereas Julior was not affected by P. vulnus infection. No nutrient deficiencies were detected by foliar analysis in any of the rootstocks and treatments. All the tested rootstocks were good hosts for P. vulnus, whose mean root population ranged from 1,670 (Cadaman) to 2,895 (Julior) nematodes/g of root.