Meloidogyne floridensis is spreading and extending its host range in the USA
Meloidogyne floridensis is a root knot nematode species described in 2004 which was initially reported from peach trees in Florida (US) only. It was later shown that it has a wider host range in Florida, including a number of important horticultural crops (e.g. aubergine, capsicum, cucumber, tomato, watermelon) and weeds. M. floridensis was also reported in 2019 from California in almond orchards in two counties, and from South Carolina on peach rootstock in one county. A recent paper reports its presence in Georgia in 2018 in six fields of the following vegetable crops: cabbage (Brassica oleracea), cowpea (Vigna unguiculata), cucumber (Cucumis sativus), watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) and tomato (Solanum lycopersicum). Tests showed that these species except cabbage were good hosts of M. floridensis and that the nematode could develop on tomatoes which would normally be resistant to root-knot nematodes (Mi-1.2 gene).
Sources
Marquez J, Hajihassani A (2023) Identification and virulence of five isolates of root-knot nematode Meloidogyne floridensis on vegetables. Plant Disease 107(5), 1522-15888.
Marquez J, Forghani F, Hajihassani A (2021) First report of the root-knot nematode, Meloidogyne floridensis, on tomato in Georgia, USA. Plant Disease 105(4), 1228. https://doi.org/10.1094/PDIS-10-20-2286-PDN
Reighard GL, Henderson WG, Scott SO, Subbotin SA (2019) First report of the root-knot nematode, infecting guardian peach rootstock in South Carolina, USA. Journal of Nematology 51(1),1-6. https://doi.org/10.21307/jofnem-2019-061
Westphal A, Maung ZT, Doll DA, Yaghmour MA, Chitambar JJ, Subbotin SA (2019) First report of the peach root-knot nematode, Meloidogyne floridensis infecting almond on root-knot nematode resistant ‘Hansen 536’and ‘Bright's hybrid 5’ rootstocks in California, USA. Journal of Nematology 51, 1-3.