INFLUENCE OF SOYBEAN CULTIVAR ON REPRODUCTION OF HETERODERA-GLYCINES IN MONOXENIC CULTURE

Nematodes produced in monoxenic culture are used for many research pur poses. To maximize the number of Heterodera glycines produced in cultu re, 24 soybean cultivars (maturity groups 0-8) were evaluated for host suitability. A strain of H. glycines race 3, maintained in monoxenic culture on excised soybean root tips of cv. Kent, was inoculated into 20 petri dishes of each cultivar. The highest numbers of first-generat ion females per petri dish were produced on cultivars Bass, Williams 8 2, Kent, Proto, and Chapman, and the lowest on cultivars Lambert and C hesapeake. A diapause-like period with decreased nematode production w as recorded on some cultivars but not others. Six generations of culti vation on CY 366 did not affect the number of females produced. The re sults indicated that soybean maturity group could not be used as a par ameter for selecting the optimum cultivars for nematode production, an d that only 12 petri dishes needed to be counted to determine a 60-fem ale difference per petri dish among cultivars. This study demonstrated that H. glycines populations in monoxenic culture can be more than qu adrupled by selection of an appropriate soybean cultivar.