Plant nematode surveys were made at 55 farm sites in six Districts of
Belize, Central America, during February, November and December, 1993.
Crops sampled included banana and plantain, cassava, citrus, coconut,
cocoyam, corn, ginger, papaya, passion fruit, peanut, pigeon pea, pin
eapple, potato, rice, sugar cane, yam, and vegetables (beans, cabbage,
carrot, cowpea, onion, peppers, tomato, okra, cucumber, pea, eggplant
). Soil and root samples also were taken from primary forest soils. A
total of 47 plant-parasitic nematode species were identified. Of these
, the important crop pests found were the root-knot nematodes, Meloido
gyne arenaria, M. incognita, and Meloidogyne sp., on vegetable and oth
er crops; the root lesion nematodes, Pratylenchus brachyurus on a rang
e of crops, P. coffeae on yams and plantain, P. zeae on rice and corn;
the burrowing nematode, Radopholus similis, on banana and plantain, t
he led ring nematode, Rhadinaphelenchus cocophilus, on coconut; the re
niform nematode, Rotylenchulus reniformis, on papaya, beans, cowpea an
d pigeon pea in particular; the citrus nematode, Tylenchulus semipenet
rans on citrus; and some spiral nematodes especially Helicotylenchus m
ulticinctus and H. mucronatus on a variety of crops. Many of the nemat
odes were widely distributed throughout Belize on different crops, alt
hough some were specific to certain hosts (e.g. R. cocophilus on cocon
ut, Radopholus similis on banana and plantain, and T. semipenetrans on
citrus).