Water dissemination of Radopholus similis (Cobb)

on nitisol in Martinique
C. Chabrier , C. Mauriol-Bastol , P. Quénéhervé
1 1 2

1- CIRAD CIRAD, UPR Systèmes Bananes et Ananas, PRAM, Le Lamentin, Martinique, F-97285, France
2- IRD, UMR Résistance des plantes aux bioagresseurs (IRD/CIRAD/UM2), PRAM, Le Lamentin, Martinique, F-97285, France

Introduction

New banana-based cropping systems developed in the French West Indies combine fallow or rotation crops with nematode-free vitro-plants, leading to an
important reduction of nematicides. However, the burrowing nematode Radopholus similis progressively reinfests banana fields and causes damages and
economic losses again. Here, we study the dissemination of R. similis by runoff, by leaching at the local scale, and the reinfestation at the field scale..

Material and method

1. Run-off at the 1- meter scale: we analyzed dispersion of R. similis under a rainfall simulator
(60 mm/hr). We collected soil samples and every 10 cm downstream after 12 to 72 minutes of
rainfall, and run-off water samples in an outlet tub located downstream from the apparatus.

2. Leaching of R. similis was studied in cylinders of soil, rainfalls (12 mm to 540 mm) were 1- Surface dispersion study:
sampling on the soil surface after
simulated with an aspersion chamber. Nematodes were then extracted from soil layers (0-5 cm to Rainfall simulation
20-25 cm depth) using: Seinhorst elutriator + Baermann funnel, or centrifugation-flotation + Meldola
blue staining

3. At the field scale, reinfestation of nematodes was monitored plant by plant in an experimental
field was divided in plots surrounded or not by ditches. All studies were conducted on nitisol, which
are representative of lowland banana fields in French West Indies. 2- Nematode leaching in soil:
soil cylinder on a bucket
collector in aspersion chamber

KEY RESULTS OF DISSEMINATION OF R. similis

3- Border of the field study after
one of the 87 rainfall that exceed
20 mm during the field studdy

100 4
Motile Non motile Motile Non motile
1-BY RUN-OFF

Nematodes recovered (%)

Nematodes recovered (%)

80
3
Surface dispersion under rainfall simulator: R. similis 60
% recovered non motiles nematodes = 53.219e-0.0624x
R2 = 0.76

individuals collected from the outlet tub during experiments on 40

2

fresh soil (water potential from -8 to -10 kPa, left) and wetted % recovered motiles nematodes = 24.20e-0.06x
1
soil (close to water saturation, right). 20 R2 = 0.88

0 0
12 32 52 72 12 32 52 72
Duration of rainfall (min) Duration of rainfall (min)

100 100

2-BY LEACHING
% recovered R. similis

Females
80 80
Males
% living R. similis

Nematode leaching in Soil cylinders: vertical distribution 60 Juveniles 60

of recovered R. similis individuals after simulated rainfall
40 40 Females
(left) and evolution of the proportion of living nematodes –
Males
average data calculated from rainfall of 90 to 540 mm of 20 20
Juveniles
precipitation 0 0

0 5 10 15 20 25 0 5 10 15 20 25
Depth (cm) Depth (cm)

3-AT THE FIELD SCALE

Field experiment: location of infested (coloured) and uninfested banana plants at first flowering and at the third flowering. Each number
corresponds to a banana plant. Continuous lines represent ditches in the field.

6 months after planting 22 months after planting

Conclusion
• Water runoff is likely to disseminate R. similis individuals over long distance on soil surface when soil moisture is already close to the field capacity.
• Dissemination to soil depth of R. similis is limited: less than 8 % of the nematodes reached layers deeper than 10 cm after exceptional rainfalls
(several times the poral volume of the soil).
• A passive dissemination model could only explain partially the distance covered by nematode individuals and not the percentage of dead or non-
active nematode which increases with covered distance or soil depth.
• 50- to 80-cm deep ditches can efficiently prevent R. similis dissemination in banana fields.