Results of questionnaire on live plant health nematode collections

In the framework of the Euphresco project 2016-F-186 'Inventory of living collections of cyst and root knot nematodes in Europe and their maintenance techniques (Cyst and Melo Collect)', a survey was organised during the Autumn 2017 with the aim to collect information on the live nematode collections in different countries. 32 (reference) collections in Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Mexico, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, United Kingdom, and United States of America participated in the survey.

Of the 32 mentioned collections the preferred nematode populations are clearly different between the USA and Europe: the tropical Meloidogyne species are the most represented in North America while Globodera species are in Europe.

The comparison of the protocols for live nematode storage for short and long periods of time showed high variability, although in general, Globodera spp. can be stored at 4 °C for longer time (>20 years) than Meloidogyne spp., whose optimal storage time is 8 months at 14 °C, when kept in soil.

The need to verify the population for its trueness, with other words, the frequency of identification differs; various possibilities are mentioned between never and almost monthly to frequently, each time the nematodes are extracted from the soil (90 days for PCN, 16 weeks for Meloidogyne) to yearly or only upon arrival. The frequency depends on the amount of time people can afford to put into this work and the risk assessment for getting cross contamination.

The conditions for rearing and maintaining were inventoried as well. For Meloidogyne spp., host differences for rearing and maintaining them are rarely observed (often Solanum lycopersicum -tomato- is used for both), although Ficus carina for long maintenance of Meloidogyne spp. and Solanum dulcamara for M. fallax have been used in France (pers. comm. Fabrice Ollivier, ANSES). For cyst nematode species their specific host is used for both rearing and maintenance purposes: Solanum tuberosum (potato), Nicotiana tabacum (tobacco), or Glycine max (soybean) are used respectively for the potato cyst nematodes (Globodera rostochiensis and G. pallida), G. tabacum and G. glycines.

The project report is also available on Zenodo https://zenodo.org/record/1442881#.W7PaxmgzbIU