The Evaluation of Egg-Parasitic Fungi Paraboeremia taiwanensis and Samsoniella sp. for the Biological Control of Meloidogyne enterolobii on Chinese Cabbage

Abstract

Meloidogyne enterolobii, an aggressive plant-parasitic nematode, has been causing great yield loss worldwide in recent years. With no resistant Chinese cabbage cultivar available currently, a biological control strategy is needed to offer an eco-friendly option for sustainable farming. In this study, the nematode suppression efficacy of two newly isolated fungi, Paraboeremia taiwanensis and Samsoniella sp., were evaluated against M. enterolobii and compared to the known biological control agents Hyalorbilia oviparasitica strain DoUCR50 and Purpureocillium lilacinum strain 251 (PL251). Both P. taiwanensis and Samsoniella sp. reduced 29–63% disease severity as effectively as the commercial product PL251 on Chinese cabbage in greenhouse trails. The in vitro egg infection rate was 47.83% by P. taiwanensis and 47.50% for Samsoniella sp., respectively. A special protocol for scanning electron microscope observation of the fungi-infected nematodes was established in this study, and the egg parasitism of the four fungi against M. enterolobii was further confirmed. For all fungi examined in this study, fungal hyphae were seen apparently penetrating into M. enterolobii eggs without destructive damage of the overall outer eggshell and the hyphae continued to grow within eggs after 6 days of infection. The results of this study imply a similar egg-parasitism mechanism for P. taiwanensis, Samsoniella sp., H. oviparasitica DoUCR50, and P. lilacinum PL251. It further enlightens the application potential of nematophagous fungi as biocontrol agents against plant-parasitic nematodes in vegetable crop management.

Accumulation of Fungal Pathogens Infecting the Invasive Spotted Lanternfly, Lycorma delicatula

“…However, North American isolates of some of these taxa may have been previously reported under other names. This is the first study to conduct Koch's postulates with a species of Samsoniella against insects, although species of Samsoniella have been isolated from dead insects [83] and have also been found to be pathogens of nematodes [84]. Future taxonomic work is needed to determine which species of this recently named genus are present in North America.…”

Long-term push–pull cropping system shifts soil and maize-root microbiome diversity paving way to resilient farming system

“…Paraboeremia spp. has been demonstrated to increase plant biomass and glycyrrhizin content in Liquorice plants [ 96 ], and it can parasitize eggs of the rice root-knot nematode, Meloidogyne graminicola , in in-vitro assays [ 27 , 97 ]. Bionectria spp.…”

Meloidogyne enterolobii risk to agriculture, its present status and future prospective for management

“…The incidence of the disease and yield losses caused by root-knot nematodes are frequently undetermined because their foliar signs are identical to those of other biotic diseases and abiotic stresses, such as stunted growth and yellow leaves ( Liang et al., 2020 ). M. enterolobii is an extremely pathogenic species that causes extensive root galling as compared to other Meloidogyne species.…”