The relationships of time and temperature to body weight and numbers of endospores in Pasteuria penetrans-infected Meloidogyne javanica females

Abstract

Abstract Tomato plants inoculated with Meloidogyne javanica juveniles infected with Pasteuria penetrans were grown in a glasshouse (20-32°C) for 36, 53, 71 and 88 days and in a growth room (26-29°C) for 36, 53, 71 and 80 days. Over these periods the numbers of P.penetrans endospores in infected M. javanica females and the weights of individual infected females increased. In the growth room, most spores (2.03 106) were found after 71 days. However, in the glasshouse the rate of increase was slower and spore numbers were still increasing at the final sampling at 88 days (2.04 106), as was the weight of the nematodes (72 μg). Weights of uninfected females reached a maximum of 36.2 and 43.1 μg after 71 days in the growth room and glasshouse, respectively.