Dynamics of free-living and plant-parasitic nematodes on vegetables in Dhapa municipal waste of Kolkata,India

We investigated areas at the eastern fringe of Kolkata, Dhapa–a land filled with Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) land of West Bengal (India) for exploring nematode species diversity, abundance and dynamic at three sites practising different vegetable-based cropping sequences. The area sampled at monthly interval and the soil and root populations estimated at laboratory. The plant-parasitic nematode (PPN) species and free-living group (saprozoics) were estimated from soil. No differences in the diversity of nematode species and feeding groups among the sites in the MSW land were found but considerable variations in abundance and dynamics of PPNs were noted. All three sites at MSW, total PPNs outnumbered free-living nematodes in most of the samples but mononchids were less abundant. Saprozoic nematode index (SNI) was determined; SNI value was low (0.33–0.40) in this organic rich production system.