Browsing by Author "Wong, E"

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    Effects of pachymetra root rot and nematodes on some elite sugarcane clones in Australia
    (ASSCT, 2016) Bhuiyan, SA; Croft, BJ; Wong, E; Ogden-Brown, J; Turner, M; Parfitt, R; Magarey, RC; Bull, J; Cox, MC
    PACHYMETRA ROOT ROT and nematodes are the two most important soil-borne pathogens of sugarcane in Australia. An experiment was established in Yandaran, Queensland in grey forest soil with high Pachymetra spore counts (>100 000 spores/kg). Fifteen elite varieties and one advanced clone, from pachymetra root rot susceptible, intermediate and resistant categories, were planted in the experiment. The experiment was maintained until the second ratoon crop and Pachymetra and nematode populations were assessed in each crop. In addition, the incidence of smut was recorded before harvesting. Cane yield (TCH), commercial cane sugar (CCS) and sugar yield (TSH) were also measured in each crop. Pachymetra spore counts remained significantly lower in resistant varieties compared to susceptible and intermediate varieties until the second ratoon. In intermediate and susceptible varieties Pachymetra spore counts increased substantially, in particular, in second ratoon. In intermediate varieties such as Q232A and Q208A Pachymetra spore counts increased more than three times from plant crop to second ratoon. Numbers of nematodes, in particular root-lesion nematode, more than doubled in the second ratoon crop compared to the plant and first ratoon crops. Only Q248A had significant levels of smut, with 25% and 30% infected plants in the first and second ratoon crops, respectively. Yield reduction was substantial in the second ratoon compared to the plant and first-ratoon crop. Sugar yield decreased by 45% in the second ratoon compared to the first ratoon. Mostly, poor or negative correlations were observed between both Pachymetra spore counts and nematode numbers and yield.
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    The bacterial biocontrol agent pasteuria penetrans can help control root-knot nematode on sugarcane
    (ASSCT, 2018) Bhuiyan, SA; Stirling, GR; Garlick, K; Anderson, J; Wickramasinghe, P; Wong, E
    ROOT-KNOT NEMATODE (Meloidogyne javanica) is one of the most damaging pests of sugarcane, often causing heavy losses in coarse-textured sandy soils. The bacterial parasite Pasteuria penetrans is a potentially useful biocontrol agent and in a 2015–16 survey it was found at relatively high levels in three of the 126 sugarcane fields surveyed. Soil was collected from one of the heavily-infested fields and a pot experiment established to compare root-knot nematode multiplication in naturally infested soil and in soil where the endospores of P. penetrans had been killed by autoclaving. After 37 weeks, the root-knot nematode population was very high in the autoclaved soil but numbers of root-knot nematode eggs and second-stage juveniles were 99% lower in the soil that was naturally-infested with P. penetrans. A subsequent pot experiment with mass-produced endospores showed that when soil contained more than 6 000 endospores/g soil, root galling was not as severe as in non-infested soil and the number of root-knot nematode eggs was reduced by 71–82%. These results indicate that when high endospore concentrations are continually maintained in the root zone, P. penetrans will markedly reduce populations of one of the most important nematode pests of sugarcane.