Morphological and Morphometrical Characterization ofMeloidogyne arenariafrom Different Host Plants in Thrissur District of Kerala, India

Four populations of root knot nematode, M. arenaria (Neal, 1889) infecting brinjal, okra, tomato and banana from Thrissur district of Kerala were identified and characterized morphologically and morphometrically. On the basis of different levels of coefficient of variability for morphometric characters of mature females and perineal pattern, stylet length, length of median bulb (LMB), width of median bulb (WMB), anus to vulval slit (AVS), anus to tail terminus and interphasmid distance (IPD) were rated as least variable characters (CV 1.03% to 11.74%) whereas body length, width and length of vulval slit (LVS) were rated as moderately variable characters (CV 3.15% to 18.04%). The characters neck length and ratio ‘a’ were seen to be the highly variable between the populations (CV 2.05% to 30.10%). In second stage juveniles, ratios c and c’ were the highly variable characters (CV 1.65% to 20.63%) whereas body length, stylet length, and head to median bulb (H-MB) were least variable (CV 0.10% to 7.63%). The anal body width (ABW) and tail length were moderately variable among the populations (CV 3.42% to 10.98%). Most of the characters were in conformity with the type description of M. arenaria except for some variations.