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Disease Note: Helicotylenchus multicinctus Found in a Slash Pine Seed Orchard in Georgia. N. K. Sharma, Department of Entomology and Apiculture, University of Horticulture and Forestry, Solan (HP), India. L. D. Dwinell, and J. P. Noe. USDA Forest Service, Southeastern Forest Experiment Station, Athens, GA 30602; and Department of Plant Pathology, University of Georgia, Athens 30602. Plant Dis. 73:518. Accepted for publication 3 April 1989. Copyright 1989 The American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/PD-73-0518A. For several years, slash pines (Pinus elliottii Engelm. var. elliottii)
selected for high gum yield, growing in a seed orchard of the Georgia
Forestry Commission in Bleckley County, have been declining.
Yellowing of needles is the first apparent symptom. In January 1989,
we conducted a limited survey of the orchard for plant-parasitic
nematodes. Helicotylenchus multicinctus (Cobb) Golden, a spiral
nematode inyolved in the yellowing and decline of bananas and
plantains (Musa spp.) (1), was found in all six samples and averaged
24 adults/ 100 g of soil. Males were present in four samples, and the
female:male ratio was 3:1. Bermudagrass (Cynodon dactylon (L.) Pers.)
on the orchard floor may contribute to the population dynamics of
this spiral nematode. This is the first report of H. multicinctus in
Georgia or associated with slash pine. The role of H. multicinctus
in the decline of slash pine in seed orchards should be investigated. |