Dl. Coyne et al., Prevalence of plant parasitic nematodes associated with rice in Ghana witha discussion of their importance, NEMATOLOGY, 1, 1999, pp. 399-405
A survey of plant parasitic nematodes of rice was made in Ghana between 199
4-1997. Fifty-one species in 29 genera were found in 145 fields from upland
, hydromorphic, rainfed lowland and irrigated lowland ecosystems in the sav
annah and forest agroecological zones. Eighteen species were endoparasites
of roots. In upland/hydromorphic rice fields in the savannah zone Pratylenc
hus spp. (80% of fields) and an undescribed species of Ditylenchus (78%) we
re most prevalent, whilst Coslenchus franklinae (84%) and Helicotylenchus s
pp. (76%) were most prevalent in the forest zone fields. Maximum population
densities encountered were 960 C. franklinae per 100 mi soil and 700 Dityl
enchus n. sp. per g root. In the savannah zone Hirschmanniella spp. (100%)
were more prevalent than other nematodes in lowland rice, but in the forest
zone Xiphinema bergeri (71%) was the most prevalent nematode in lowland ri
ce. Occurrence of nematode species was different in different agroecologica
l zones and rice ecosystems. There was no relationship between rice plant h
eight and nematode population densities in crops close to harvest time in u
pland/hydromorphic fields in the savannah zone.