Mechanism of resistance to Meloidogyne Incognita and Meloidogyne Javanica in Cucumis Africanus and Cucumis myriocarpus seedlings

Abstract

Root-knot (Meloidogyne species) nematodes are economically destructive pathogens of over 3000 species, whereas others have resistance to Meloidogyne species. Wild watermelon (Cucumis africanus) and wild cucumber (Cucumis myriocarpus) are highly resistant to Meloidogyne species, particularly M. incognita and M. javanica. The two Cucumis species are used in inter-generic grafting with watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) as nematode resistant rootstocks. Also, the two Cucumis species are used in traditional medicine and in plant-parasitic nematode management as phytonematicides. The form of nematode resistance, which is essential in plant breeding, is not documented for the two Cucumis species. The objective of this study was to determine the form of nematode resistance in the two Cucumis species to M. incognita and M. javanica under greenhouse conditions. Four parallel experiments were each conducted under greenhouse conditions. Uniform six-week old Cucumis seedlings were transplanted into 250 ml polystyrene cups filled with 200 ml growing medium of steam-pasteurised fine sand. A week after transplanting, Cucumis seedlings were each infested by dispensing approximately 100 M. incognita second-stage juveniles (J2) or M. javanica J2 using a 20 ml plastic syringe by placing into 5-cm-deep furrow around the seedling stem and covered with growing medium. Treatments (periodic harvest intervals) were arranged in a randomised complete block design, replicated five times. Five seedlings from each experiment were harvested every second day, for 30 days, with stained roots being assessed for necrotic spot (suberised cells) number, giant cell number, proliferation of rootlet interference number and root gall number. Periodic harvest intervals were highly significant (P ≤ 0.01) on necrotic spot number, proliferation of rootlet interference number and root gall number in C. africanus-M. incognita relations, but were not significant for giant cell number. Treatments contributed 59, 64 and 50% in total treatment variation (TTV) of necrotic spot number, proliferation of rootlet interference number and root gall number, respectively. Harvest period had highly significant effects on necrotic spot number, giant cell number, proliferation of rootlet interference number and root gall number in C. africanus-M. javanica relations. Treatments contributed 55, 71, 63 and 59% in TTV of necrotic spot number, giant cell number, proliferation of rootlet interference number and root gall number, respectively. Periodic harvest intervals were significant (P ≤ 0.05) on giant cell number and highly significant on root gall number in C. myriocarpus-M. incognita relations. However, there were no significant treatment differences on necrotic spot number and proliferation of rootlet interference number. Treatments contributed 57 and 57% in TTV of root gall number and giant cell number, respectively. Harvest period had highly significant effects on giant cell number, proliferation of rootlet interference number and root gall number, but were not significant on necrotic spot number in C. myriocarpus-M. javanica relations. Treatments accounted for 67, 49 and 53% in TTV of giant cell number, proliferation of rootlet interference number and root gall number, respectively. In conclusion, the mechanism of resistance to M. incognita and M. javanica in both C. africanus and C. myriocarpus was post-infectional nematode resistance, which has attributes for introgression into commercial nematode-susceptible Cucumis cultivars.