The influence of the root-knot nematode Meloidogyne incognita , the nematicide aldicarb and the nematophagous fungus Pochonia chlamydosporia on heterotrophic bacteria in soil and the rhizosphere

Plant-pathogenic nematodes are a major cause of crop damage worldwide, the current chemical nematicides cause environmental damage, but alternatives such as biological control are less effective, so further understanding of the relationship between nematodes, nematicides, biological control agents and soil and rhizosphere microorganisms is needed. Microbial populations from roots of cabbage and tomato plants infested with the root-knot nematode Meloidogyne incognita were compared with those from plants where the nematode was controlled by the nematicide aldicarb, or a nematophagous fungus with biological control potential, Pochonia chlamydosporia. The total numbers of culturable bacteria and fungi in rhizosphere soil were similar in all three treatments for both plants, around 100-fold more than in control soil in which there were no plants. However, there were clear differences in the catabolic diversity, assessed by Biolog EcoPlate(TM) carbon substrate utilization assays, between microbial populations from unplanted soil and the rhizosphere. In cabbage, a poor host for M. incognita, the rhizosphere population from P. chlamydosporia-treated plants was distinct from the population from untreated and aldicarb-treated plants. In tomato, a host susceptible to the nematode, the catabolic diversity of populations from aldicarb- and P. chlamydosporia-treated plants was similar and differed from the untreated, nematode-infested plants. The genetic diversity of the fast-growing heterotrophic bacteria in the tomato rhizosphere, indicated by PCR fingerprinting with ERIC primers, was very different in the infested roots, whereas the profiles of isolates from both aldicarb- and P. chlamydosporia-treated roots were similar. Evidently, nematodes have a greater impact on the rhizosphere population of a susceptible host, tomato, than a poor one, cabbage, and nematode-infested roots are colonized by a different subpopulation of soil microbes from that on plants where infection is controlled, illustrating differences in root morphology and physiology.