MELOIDOGYNE SPECIES THAT POSE A THREAT TO POTATO CROP IN ROMANIA

The most important root-knot nematodes specific for potatoes crops in Europe are Meloidogyne chitwoodi and M. fallax which are regulated as Union quarantine pests, according to Commission Implementing Regulation Annex II B of EU Reg. 2019/2072). A monitoring program is ongoing for detection and identification of quarantine and regulated non quarantine pests with economic importance for Solanum tuberosum in Romania. One of the goals of this program is to have a clear situation of nematodes which can occur in order to establish the status of them in Romania and their distribution. In the literature there is mentioned also another root-knot nematode species which can be present on potato, namely Meloidogyne hapla. Official surveys are based on taking sample consists of soil and potatoes tubers. For extraction of juvenile nematodes (J(2)) from soil samples were used Oostenbrink elutriator and Baermann funnel and for females from potato tubers samples by enzymatic digestion of potato peels. The identification of Meloidogyne species was done by morphological and molecular methods. It was the first record of M. hapla on Solanum tuberosum in Romania.