Potential of indigenous solanacae vegetables as trap crops for managing potato cyst nematodes

Abstract

Potatoes are among the most important staple food crops. They are a major source of carbohydrate and provide more calories, protein, and minerals. An increase in the global consumption of potatoes, stimulated through rising populations and intensifying urbanization, has driven a surge in potato production. However, production is adversely affected by pests and pathogens, among which the Potato Cyst Nematodes (PCN) are the most devastating and difficult to control. This pest can infect numerous species of Solanum; they are, in economic terms, principally parasites of potatoes (jones, et al., 2021). PCN have been detected in Uganda (Cortada et al., 2019) and no studies have been conducted to manage the pest. This stimulated the current research to develop an effective, cheap and environmentally friendly strategy of managing the pest. In this study, four different plants in the Solanaceae family root exudates were tested for hatching induction on Potato Cyst Nematodes. These plants included, Solanum aethiopicum (Nakati), Solanum anguivi (Katunkuma), Solanum nigrum (Nsugga), Solanum aethiopicum (gilo group) (Ntula) also including Solanum tuberosum which is the main host plant as a positive control and water as a negative control. Three cysts were exposed to root exudates from one, two, three and four week old plants. Hatching was observed by counting number of eggs, juveniles at the start and then after two weeks under the microscope. Generally the test plants induced hatching of the PCNs. Age of plant exudates had a significant effect on hatching of the PCN as exudates from two weeks old plants induced the highest hatching for all the plants. Potato induced highest overall hatching because its the main host for the nematodes thus acted as a positive control. Night shade was the second after potato followed by Katunkuma, therefore these two plants can be further investigated on how they induce hatching of the nematodes. Results of this study showed a significant implication on the use of indigenous solanaceae vegetables to manage PCNs.