Morphological and morphometrical characterization of Meloidogyne incognita from different hosts

A survey was conducted during 2015–16 to investigate the root-knot nematode species occurring in different host plants (tomato, frenchbean, capsicum, ginger, carnation, litchi, guava, okra, brinjal, spinach, mentha and bottle gourd) from five districts viz. (Sirmaur, Solan, Bilaspur, Kangra and Una) of Himachal Pradesh. Morphological and morphometrical characterization indicated that in the case of adult female, stylet length, length of median bulb (LMB), width of median bulb (WMB), length of vulval slit (LVS) and anus to vulval slit (AVS) were recorded as stable characters. Stylet length was found to be only stable character in second stage juvenile population. Analysis of morphometric characters of adult males showed that stylet length, length and width of median bulb and length of gubernaculum were stable characters. However, male populations were absent in different host plants from Una and Kangra districts.