Tropes

ScienceDaily_2013 00036.txt

#Meloidogyne mali: A new invasive plant parasitic nematode in Europefollowing its recent synonymisation with Meloidogyne ulmi a species known to parasitize elm trees in Europe it has become clear that M. mali has been in The netherlands for more than fifty years. Evidences given by the authors suggest that M. mali was introduced probably during the breeding program on Elms against the Dutch elm disease (DED) during which large numbers of Elm rootstocks and seeds were imported from several different countries. The study was published in the open access journal Zookeys. M. ulmi the synonym of M. mali was described first in Italy on the Elm tree species Ulmus Chenmoui. According to this current article it has also been associated with several other plant species from a survey conducted in The netherlands. It causes severe galling symptoms on its host thereby interfering with their water and nutrient uptake from the soil. On the current distribution of Meloidogyne mali in Europe the authors speculate it could be found in ten other European countries namely Belgium England France Ireland Italy Spain Denmark Germany Slovakia and Romania. These were the European countries to which resistant Elm rootstocks were sent at the end of the breeding program. The first description of M. mali was in Japan and it dates back to 1969 with the type host being apple. Many studies later on associated this nematode species with several plant species including Elms. In Europe however it was for years only known to parasitize Elms. The trial field'Mierenbos'in Wageningen used for growing the resistant Elm cultivars is infested completely with M. mali with all the trees showing severe galling symptoms. During this study M. mali was tested on some more plant species which were found to be hosts to this nematode species. The authors compounded a list of about 44 different plant species currently recognized as host to M. mali. It is highly probable that this root-knot nematode has even a wider host range than what is known now and possibly a wider distribution in Europe than where it is confined currently to be (Italy and The netherlands). Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by Pensoft Publishers. The original story is licensed under a Creative Commons License. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. Journal Reference e

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