Development of an Efficient Screening Method for Resistance of Chili Pepper Plants to Meloidogyne incognita

摘要

Root-knot nematodes (Meloidogyne spp.) are major plant pathogens that cause reductions in yield and quality of several solanaceous crops, including pepper (Capsicum spp.). These losses can be averted through planting of resistant cultivars. Plants are defined as resistant when they suppress nematode reproduction. In this study, the resistance degrees of 102 commercial cultivars of chili pepper (Capsicum annuum) to a root-knot nematode, Meloidogyne incognita, were evaluated by comparing the number of egg masses on their roots to those of 'PR huimangchan', a highly susceptible cultivar that exhibited the most egg masses of the chili pepper cultivars evaluated. Among these cultivars, forty-four (43.1%) showed resistance to M incognita and eighteen (17.6%) were moderately resistant. The other cultivars (39.3%) were determined to be susceptible. For further study, six chili pepper cultivars (i.e., Gangryeokjosenggeon, Shinsegae, Muhanjilju, PR Bulrocho, PR Huimangchan, and Jjang) with different levels of resistance to the nematode were selected. Changes in resistance of the six cultivars under several conditions, such as inoculum concentration, plant growth stage, and cultivation period after transplanting were investigated. We found that an efficient screening method for resistance of chili pepper to M incognita is to transplant the chili pepper seedlings 7 days before inoculation, to inoculate 28-day-old plants with M incognita by loading 5,000 eggs per plant into the pot of soil, to cultivate the plants in a greenhouse (25 +/- 5 degrees C) for 45-60 days, to measure the number of egg masses on roots of the seedlings, and then to determine the resistance response of the plants by comparing the number of egg masses on the roots with a reference-susceptible cultivar 'PR huimangchan'.