Soybean development under different Aphelenchoides besseyi and Meloidogyne incognita populations

Abstract

The green stem Aphelenchoides besseyi and gall Meloidogyne incognita phytonematodes cause soybean yield losses. Thus, the objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of different populations of A. besseyi and M. incognita on soybeans. The experiment had 10 treatment groups [T1: control, T2: A. besseyi (500), T3: M. incognita (2,000), T4: A. besseyi (250) + M. incognita (2,000), T5: A. besseyi (500) + M. incognita (2,000), T6: A. besseyi (250) + M. incognita (4000), T7: A. besseyi (500) + M. incognita (4,000) individuals, T8: A. besseyi (250) + M. incognita (8,000), T9: A. besseyi (500) + M. incognita (5,000), and T10: A. besseyi (1,000) + M. incognita (8,000) individuals] with six replicates. Inoculations were done on day 10 after soybean germination, and evaluations were conducted after 60 d. Plant height, shoot fresh weight, root fresh weight, number of pods (NP), pod fresh weight, number of grains (NG), grain yield (GY), amount of A. besseyi in the shoot, and M. incognita in the roots were analyzed. The 500 A. besseyi + 8,000 M. incognita treatment reduced all variables and led to considerable damage to soybean development. In addition, GY, NG, and NP were reduced in the different nematode population density groups, influencing soybean agronomic characteristics.