Documentation of Plant Parasitic and Beneficial Soil Nematodes and Their Communities in Madhya Pradesh, India Rathour Kabindra Singh, Dubey Jola, Ganguly Sudershan Division of Nematology, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi-110 012, India e-mail: sg-nema@yahoo.com Abstract A survey of 10 districts (Gwalior, Jabalpur, Mandsaur, Ujjain, Bhind, Dhar, Satna, Reewa, Panna and Chhatarpur) of Madhya Pradesh state was conducted to record the plant parasitic and other beneficial soil nematodes associated with various vegetable, cereal, oil-seed, pulse, fruit, medicinal and cash crops. Analysis of nematode communities revealed 39 genera of plant parasitic and 9 genera of beneficial soil nematodes. Among the beneficial nematodes, mycetophagous nematode, Aphelenchus avenae was found to be the most frequently occurring (absolute frequency = 17.30), followed by rhabditids (11.53). The maximum density was recorded for Aphelenchoides composticola (123), followed by A. avenae (107) per 100g soil. The highest prominence value was recorded for A. avenae (10.55), followed by dorylaimids (6.36) and A. composticola (5.70). Among the plant parasitic nematodes, Meloidogyne incognita was found to be the most frequently occurring with highest absolute frequency (50), followed by Rotylenchulus reniformis (40.38), Helicotylenchus dihystera (23). The maximum absolute density was recorded for R. reniformis followed by H. dihystera and Tylenchorhynchus indicus with 205, 121 and 110 individuals per 100g soil, respectively. The highest prominence value was recorded for M. incognita (17.12), followed by H. dihystera (13.78) and Hoplolaimus indicus (11.20). Nemic diversity recorded in this state was documented in the form of distribution maps, separately for endoparasitic, ectoparasitic and beneficial nematodes. Top Keywords Bacteriophagous, mycetophagous, predaceous, saprophagous/omnivorous, community analysis, distribution maps. Top |