A fodder sorghum cultivar, ‘Kyushuko 3 go’, suppresses root-knot nematode, Meloidogyne incognita

Abstract

Summary Commercially available sorghum cultivars were tested for resistance to Meloidogyne incognita in order to select cultivars that combine fodder production with M. incognita population management. Initially in a pot test with 12 sorghum cultivars, ‘Kyushuko 3 go’, a sorghum hybrid, supported very low M. incognita reproduction approximately 40 days after inoculation (dai) with 500 second-stage juveniles (J2) pot−1, similar to the resistant green manure ‘Tsuchitaro’. Further tests for development of M. incognita in roots (20 dai with 150 J2 (root system)−1) indicated that the resistance of ‘Kyushuko 3 go’ acts after nematode root penetration. In field tests in 2015 and 2016, ‘Kyushuko 3 go’ suppressed M. incognita population densities, although some variations in field conditions may influence reproduction of M. incognita on ‘Kyushuko 3 go’. These findings demonstrated M. incognita-resistant fodder sorghum cultivars could be a useful alternative to susceptible cultivars for root-knot nematode management.