Rev 08/30/2022
Tylenchida Tylenchina Tylenchoidea Heteroderidae Meloidogyninae
Meloidogyne kikuyensis De Grisse, 1961
Review general characteristics of the genus Meloidogyne.
This species is reported to have only 7 chromosomes, similar to M. spartinae, rather than the n=13-19 of most root-knot nematode species. The chromosomes of M. kikuyensis are larger than those of most other Meloidogyne species (Eisenback and Viera, 2020).
Female:
Reported median body size for this species (Length mm; width micrometers; weight micrograms) - Click:
Reported fro, kikuyu grass (Pennisetum clandestinum) in Kenya and sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum) in South Africa (Eisenback and Viera, 2020).
.Type Host: Kikuyu grass (Pennisetum clandestinum)
Ecophysiological Parameters:
Causes small nodule-like galls on roots. Giant cells seem to be formed by disoolution of cell walls, as occurs with cyst nematodes, rather than by hypertrophy and nuclear division without cell divison.
The vascular tissues supplying the giant cells are at right angles to the vascular cylinder of the main root.
Resistance
Host Plant Resistance, Non-hosts and Crop Rotation alternatives:
Eisenback, J.D., Viera, P. 2020. Additional notes on the morphology and molecular data of the Kikuyu root-knot nematode, Meloidogyne kikuyensis (Nematoda: Meloidogynidae). J. Nematology 52: | DOI: 10.21307/jofnem-2020-067
De Grisse, A. 1961. Meloidogyne kikuyensis n.sp., a parasite of kikuyu grass (Pennisetum clandestinum) in Kenya. Nematologica 5:303-308.