A survey of Helicotylenchus, Paratylenchus, Pratylenchus, and Tylenchorhynchus nematodes in potato fields in Alberta, 2018 and 2019

Abstract

The prevalence of Helicotylenchus, Paratylenchus, Pratylenchus and Tylenchorhynchus genera of nematodes is not well understood across the prairie provinces of Canada. These nematodes can cause economic damage by feeding on the host crop directly or serve as vectors of plant diseases. While conducting a larger project, nematode populations were quantified in the soil of three commercial potato fields planted with cultivar ‘Russet Burbank’; one in 2018 and two in 2019. The nematodes were extracted from soil samples, identified morphologically, and then quantified as numbers per kg of fresh soil. All four genera were detected in all fields, but the population sizes varied between fields and across time within fields.