Resistance in Selected Corn Hybrids to Meloidogyne arenaria and M. incognita

A total of 33 corn hybrids were evaluated in a series of greenhouse and field trials to determine if they differed in resistance to either Meloidogyne incognita race 3 or M. arenaria race 1. Reproduction of M. incognita race 3 and M. arenaria race 1 on the hybrids was also compared. Reproduction of M. arenaria differed among corn hybrids after 58 to 65 days in greenhouse experiments; however, reproduction was similar among hybrids in the field experiment. No hybrids were consistently resistant to M. incognita. Two isolates of M. arenaria and two of M. incognita were evaluated in the greenhouse trials, and no evidence of isolate-dependent resistance was observed. Meloidogyne incognita reproduced better than M. arenaria on the hybrids in this study. A survey of 102 corn fields from 11 counties throughout southern Georgia was conducted to determine the relative frequency of M. incognita and M. arenaria. Meloidogyne species were found in 34 of the fields surveyed, and 93.9% of these were identified as M. incognita. The frequency of occurrence of M. incognita was 99.6% if the previous crop was cotton and 84.6% if the previous crop was peanut. Pratylenchus spp. were extracted from all intact corn root systems examined.