To define the extent of damage that
Radopholus Similes
alone can cause in plantain (
Musa
sp) CV
Agbagba, an inoculation experiment was conducted under greenhouse (tropical) conditions using sword suckers of
Musa
Sp. as test plants. Three (3) inoculum levels of
Radopholus similes 50, 250 and 500 nematodes were employed.
There were 4 groups of potted plants filled with sterilized soil made up of 5 replicates each. The 1st group of 5
replicates were inoculated with 50 nematode vermiforms per plant while the 2
nd and 3
rd group had 250 and 500
nematode vermiforms per plant introduced into them respectively. The 4
th group served as the control with no
nematodes introduced. The period of observation was three (3) months. Damage was determined by accessing the
nematodes reproduction rates. This was done by the extraction of nematode species from root samples. (Maceration
– sieving method) for nematode count. Observations were made on the sensitivity of the genotype, root necrosis and
plant growth parameter (freshroot weight, plant height, girth, dry root, green leaves etc). Results showed that
infected plants showed a significant increase (P<0.025) in dry leaves and dry roots at all treatment levels while fresh
root, plant girth and ok roots reduced mean values compared with recorded values of non-infected plants. The
percentage difference between values of infected and their non-infested counterparts was 89.3 That mean values of
dry leaves and dry roots of nematode infested plant recorded significantly (P<0.025) higher values than those of
control showed that R. similes are damaging to plantains. Males and females of
R.similis recovered at treatment
levels 50, 250 and 500 were highly significantly (P <0.05) different from those recovered from control. Reproduction
of nematodes occurred at all treatment levels. Plantain plants were severely damaged by R. similis as shown by
increased dry roots, dry leaves and high occurrence of males (and females) which are useful growth parameters in
determining susceptibility.
