NEMATODES AND THEIR EFFECTS ON GARLIC CULTIVATION

30 APR

NEMATODES AND THEIR EFFECTS ON GARLIC CULTIVATION

The cultivation of garlic is of Mediterranean origin, but later it spread all over the world, having a large presence in Asia and America. Spain is one of the world’s leading producers of this product, and in 2018, 26,338 ha of garlic were planted throughout the country.

At Econatur, due to our location in Spain, this is a crop that we have been advising closely for years and for which we have developed specific solutions. This has led us to carefully study one of the main pathogens affecting this crop, and other bulb crops, namely nematode infestation.

Nematodes are organisms that use crops as hosts to reproduce, which means that the crop can develop a disease depending on the level of infestation by this pathogen. There are different species of nematodes that use different crops as hosts to reproduce; among them are the genera Heterodera, Pratylenchus, Meloidogyne and Ditylenchus. The last two genera(Meloidogyne and Ditylenchus) are the most common. The main difference between the two genera is their way of infesting the crop, and thus the type of crop they affect.

Meloidogyne spp. use the root surface of the plant (e.g. tomato, pepper, cucumber, etc.) to lay the egg mass, thus generating a root tumour. These root tumours are due to changes in the functioning of the cells, increasing their metabolic rate. They also alter the expression of some genes that regulate hormone balance, allowing the nematode to control the food supply that the plant can offer it.

The genus Ditylenchus spp. is the main genus attacking the garlic crop. This genus consists of about 80 species that take as hosts both fungi and plants. The feeding activity of this type of nematode usually causes the rupture of cell walls, due to the secretion of pectinase enzymes, which can lead to inflammation and distortion of plant structures. This allows secondary pathogens to infect the crop. The reproduction periods of this nematode last an average of 21 days, with reproduction, laying and hatching of the eggs inside the plant tissue.

On average, nematodes cause losses of 12-20% in global agriculture. These losses are equivalent to approximately 135,000 million euros per year. In Spain, in tomato cultivation alone, losses of between 15 and 40% have been recorded , both in outdoor and greenhouse cultivation.

If you want to know more and find out more about Econatur’s solutions to combat nematodes, contact our experts HERE