A NOVEL STREPTOMYCES SPECIES FOR CONTROLLING PLANT-PARASITIC NEMATODES

A novel species of Steptromyces isolated from nematode suppressive soils in Costa Rica was evaluated for efficacy in controlling plant-parasitic nematodes. This isolate, designated CR-43, was shown to inhibit reproduction of Caenorhabditis elegans in a laboratory assay. Greenhouse trials utilizing three different methods of treatment with CR-43 gave significant reductions of tomato root galling due to Meloidogyne incognita. In a field experiment in Puerto Rico, in soil naturally infested with M. incognita, CR-43-treated pepper showed significant reductions in root galling and significant increases in yield as compared to untreated controls. In a second experiment in Puerto Rico, a significant reduction in tomato root galling and a slight reduction in root galling on pepper occurred. In this trial, yields on both tomato and pepper were higher in CR-43 treatments, but these differences were not statistically significant. In both experiments populations of Rotylenchulus reniformis were reduced by CR-43 treatment. In a field trial on strawberry in Massachusetts, CR-43-treated plants had lower numbers of Pratylenchus penetrans within roots and showed a significant decrease in black root rot disease. Studies on sterile filtrates from CR-43 cultures indicated that a major determinant of CR-43 antinematodal activity was mostly thermostable macromolecules of molecular weight higher than 6000. Culture filtrates of CR-43 exhibited antifungal activity in vitro.