Plant-parasitic nematodes associated with the root zone of hop cultivars planted in a Florida field soil

In early 2016, hop plants were introduced into Florida. By late 2016, the hop plants were showing stunted growth and were heavily parasitized by Meloidogyne javanica. In this study, we determined host susceptibility of 14 hop cultivars to M. javanica in a greenhouse experiment and monitored population development of plant-parasitic nematode species in the root zone of 17 hop cultivars planted in three newly established hop yards in Florida. Plant-parasitic nematodes in the rooting zone soil of field grown hop plants included M. javanica, Pratylenchus brachyurus, Paratrichodorus minor, Belonolaimus longicaudatus, Xiphinema setariae/vulgare complex, Mesocriconema xenoplax, and Helicotylenchus dihystera; however, soil population densities of P. minor, B. longicaudatus, X. setariae/vulgare complex, M. xenoplax, and H. dihystera remained low through the study. Root galling, M. javanica egg production, and soil population densities of M. javanica were consistently large on the ‘Canadian Red Vine’, ‘Centennial’, ‘Chinook’, and ‘Comet’ cultivars, and small on the ‘Galena’ and ‘Triple Perle’ cultivars. No differences were observed in soil population densities of P. brachyurus among hop cultivars. Overall, our study provides the first report of plant-parasitic nematode population development in the root zone on hop cultivars planted in Florida.