OCCURRENCE OF PASTEURIA SPP IN FLORIDA

Two years of data collected from the Florida Nematode Assay Laboratory of the Florida Cooperative Extension Service and 4 years of data from the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Division of Plant Industry, were compiled to find out the distribution of Past euria spp. on nematodes in Florida soils. Information recorded came fr om 335 samples and included nematode genera with Pasteuria endospores attached, host plants associated with the samples,and the origins of t he samples. Pasteuria spp. were detected on 14 different plant-parasit ic nematode genera in 41 Florida counties and associated with over 39 different plant species and in seven fallow fields. Pasteuria-infected nematodes were associated with a wide range of plant hosts, although frequency of associations with these hosts reflected the sample bias o f the laboratories involved. Meloidogyne and Hoplolaimus spp. were the two nematode genera most frequently associated with Pasteuria. Pasteu ria spp. were observed attached to members of these two genera in 176 and 59 soil samples, respectively.