Morphological and morphometrical characterization of Meloidogyne javanica (Treub) from banana host plant in the district of Patiala, Punjab

Single population of root knot nematode (RKN), Meloidogyne javanica was collected from the host plant banana from Patiala district in Punjab. Morphologically and morphometrical characterization indicated that the females with longer neck tend to have bigger median bulb, valve and was located more posteriorly from the head. In juveniles, the size and location of median bulb, tail length and anal body length exhibited direct correlation with body length. Among the various taxonomic characters, the perineal pattern, head and stylet morphology of mature females were the most reliable characters for precise identification of this species. Analysis of morphometric characters of female of M. javanica such as length (L), neck-L, LVS and ATT were least variable characters; width, stylet-L, ratio ‘a’, AVS and IPD were moderately variable characters and LMB (length of the median bulb), WMB (width of the median bulb) were highly variable characters. In second stage juveniles (J2), tail length, was least variable, median bulb to excretory pore (MB-EP) was moderately variable and length (L), stylet-L, head to median bulb (H-MB), anal body width (ABW) and ratio C, ‘C’ were highly variable characters.