First report of root‐knot nematode Meloidogyne ethiopica Whitehead, 1968 on kiwifruit Actinidia deliciosa (A. Chev.) C. F. Liang and A. R. Ferguson, 1984 in Türkiye

Root‐knot nematodes (Meloidogyne spp.) cause serious damage to kiwifruit orchards in Türkiye. In summer 2022, during a survey on root‐knot nematodes of kiwifruit in Bursa, Rize, and Yalova provinces in the country, many galls in the roots were discovered. A single egg mass was extracted from the infected roots and inoculated to Rutgers tomato and kiwi (Hayward) plants for reproduction as a pure culture. Second‐stage infective juveniles (J2), mature females with egg masses, and males were used for identification studies. Species were identified based on biochemical (esterase phenotypes), morphological, morphometric, and molecular methods. The perineal pattern observations and morphometric values were in accordance with previously reported measurements. The isozyme electrophoresis analyses revealed the species‐specific esterase phenotypes (E3) with three bands. As a result of all the methods used for diagnosis, we identified the nematode causing the infection as the root‐knot nematode Meloidogyne ethiopica. To our knowledge, this is not only the first report of M. ethiopica in Türkiye, but also the first report of this species in Europe.