Genus Rotylenchulus

The Reniform Nematode

The only species of economic importance in agriculture is R.reniformis

• wide host range (140 species in 30 families)
  
• subtropics (soybean, cotton, potato, cowpea)
  
• tropics (banana, tea, coffee, citrus, ginger)
• Southeast US (increasing problem on cotton in NC)
  
• young female infective stage, adult female is kidney shaped
  
• high populations may not cause damage
• reproduction by amphimixis
• development from J2 to preadult without feeding
• can survive in air dried soil for up to 2 years
• males are not parasitic
• 40-200 eggs laid in a gelatinous matrix after 7-10 days post infection
• young female migrates intracellularly to the stele causing necrosis in cortex
• a prosyncyte is formed by cell wall dissolution and cytoplasmic coalescence
• feeding tubes are formed, but nematode but no cell wall ingrowths are observed
• 100-200 cells may be incorporated into syncytium along root axis
• general symptoms resemble nutrient deficiency