ABSTRACT

Introduction The earliest reports of plant parasitic nematodes attacking sugarcane crop came from Java where Treub (1885) found nematodes in cane roots which he called, Heterodera jevanica, now known as Meloidogyne javanica. According to Bell (1929), Soltwedel in Java described a new nematode species, Tylenchus sacccluzri (Pratylenchus sacchari Sher and Allen), in 1887 and describe nematodes as the causal agent of sugarcane diseases. Cobb (1893, 1931, 1935) published classic papers on nematodes parasitizing sugarcane in Hawaii. He described a nematode on sugarcane as Tylenchus similis, known as Rildopholus similis, a pathogen of many crops, including sugarcane. Cobb was of the view that nematodes caused sugarcane diseases alone, as well as indirectly, in complex with other pathogens like fungi and bacteria. Cobb reported the first root-knot disease of sugarcane in 1887. Other early records of root-knot were those of Matz (1925), Cassidy (1930) and Muir (1926). Observations and investigations on sugarcane nematode problems published during 1905 and 1930 were summarized by Van Zwaluwenburg (1926, 1930). He considered Tylenchus similis (Radopholus simi/is) and Heterodera (probably a root-knot nematode) of the greatest importance to sugarcane at that time. Muir, along with Henderson (1926) and Van Zwaluwenburg (1927) reported Heterodera schachti Schmidt, 1871, Tylenchus dipsaci Kuehn, 1858 (Ditylenchus dipsaci), Pratylenchus pratensis de Man, 1881, associated with sugarcane root rot in Hawaii. Cobb (1893), while working in Australia, described many species collected from sugarcane rhizosphere. Agricultural interest in sugarcane nematology grew when Stewart (1926, 1927) and Stewart and Hanson (1928) carried out pathogenicity tests by inoculating sugarcane with Tylenchus similis (Rildopholus similis) in Hawaii, resulting in poor sugarcane growth as compared to good growth of non-treated check plants in their experiments.