Role of Scutellonema clathricaudatum in etiology of groundnut growth variability in Niger

Variation in crop growth is an important limiting factor for groundnut production in Niger. Populations of Aphelenchoides sp., Ditylenchus sp., Helicotylenchus sp., Hoplolaimus pararobustus, Macroposthonia curvata, Paralongidorus bullatus, Scutellonema clathricaudatum, Telotylenchus indicus and Xiphinema parasetariae have been associated with groundnut crop growth variability. S. clathricaudatum, X. parasetariae and T. indicus were widespread and S. clathricaudatum was most abundant nematode. Population densities of S. clathricaudatum was always higher in the roots of poorly growing, chlorotic and stunted plants than in the roots of apparently healthy plants. A preplant population density of 1.3 S. clathricaudatum cm^-3 soil caused (p=0.05) reduction in plant growth of groundnut cv. 55–437. S. clathricaudatum was mainly confined to 0–15 cm soil depth at the time of planting in June and was not found below 45 cm depth at any time during the crop growth period. Soil application of carbofuran (10 kg a.i ha^-1) reduced the nematode population densities and resulted in vigorous and uniform crop growth. Higher Al and H-ion concentrations (0.50 meq 100 g^-1 soil) also was associated with poorly growing chlorotic seedlings. Symptoms of nematode-caused variable growth were evident 3 to 4 weeks after seedling emergence.Submitted as ICRISAT Journal Article No. 1141.