Author：Chen, D. Y.^1,* and Yen, J. H.²

Abstrct：

    The preliminary investigation of plant-parasitic nematode diseases of red dragon fruit (Hylocereus spp.) was conducted in Taiwan. The rhizosphere soils were collected and plant-parasitic nematodes were identified from Guanxi of Sinchu County, Houli of Taichung City, Erlin of Changhua County, Guoshing and Mingjian of Nantou County, Dalin of Chiayi County, Dongshan of Tainan City and Checheng of Pingtung County. The plant-parasitic nematodes were identified by morphology and species-specific primers, total 9 species were found, including Meloidogyne incognita, M. enterolobii, M. javanica, M. arenaria, Helicotylenchus dihystera, Tylenchorhynchus annulatus, T. zeae, T. leviterminalis and Cactodera cacti. Except for the root-knot nematode disease caused by the Meloidogyne was confirmed, the real effect of the other nematodes on red dragon fruit remains to be assessed. The main reason for root-knot nematode causes severe disease symptom in red dragon fruit mainly due to plant stem section in the base was infected by root-knot nematode, caused irregularly swollen projections and cannot grow new roots; while infection of taproot caused irregular epidermal tissue projections, leading to root rot and then fibrosis; few shoots sprout, slow and weak growth eventually occurred. The first control strategy before field planting is to survey the root-knot nematode for preventing the infection of new stem sections. Secondly, it should remove the infected root and rhizosphere soil, in case to avoid nematode proliferation and further infection of neighbor health plantings.

Keywords: red dragon fruit, Hylocereus spp., Cactodera cacti, Meloidogyne enterolobii

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¹ Taiwan Agricultural Research Institute, COA
² Agricultural Extension Center, National Chung-Hsing University
* Corresponding Author; e-mail: dychen@tari.gov.tw

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