Plant-parasitic Nematodes Associated with Commercial Orchards of Passion Fruit and Adjacent Cerrado Vegetation in the Brazilian Federal District

Populations of plant-parasitic nematodes were evaluated in soil and root samples from areas planted with passion fruit, or covered with adjacent native cerrado vegetation, in five different cropping regions of the Brazilian Federal District. From July 2007 to January 2008, twenty samples had been collected in five Rural Centers (Nucleo Rural-NR) planted with passion fruit. In five sites, samples were also collected in native cerrado vegetation. Specimens of nine genera of plant-parasitic nematodes (Meloidogyne, Helicotylenchus, Rotylenchulus, Scutellonema, Pratylenchus, Paratylenchus, Hemicycliophora, Xiphinema and Criconemoides) were found in the present survey. Important nematode pathogens, such as Rotylenchulus reniformis and Meloidogyne spp. were observed in the passion fruit plantations throughout five major producing regions of the Brazilian Federal District.