REPRODUCTION OF THE BANANA ROOT-LESION NEMATODE, PRATYLENCHUS GOODEYI, IN MONOXENIC CULTURES

Pratylenchus goodeyi obtained from a field population, infecting banana roots at Madeira island, Portugal, was cultured on carrot discs at 25 "C in a growth chamber to determine its rate of reproduction and to compare the tnorphometry of the axenically produced population with that of specimens from a field population and from previous published descriptions. An initial inoculum level of 12 specimens (ten females and two males) produced, after four months, up to 39,000 specimens/single disc, in all stages of development (eggs, juveniles and adults with a sex ratio between females and males of 12:l). The main morphometric features with stable value (such as stylet length, V%, spicules and gubernaculum length, etc.) of specimens from the carrot disc culture closely agreed with the original description, and the banana populations from Cameroon and Madeira.