Effects of Pangola,Digitgrass on Meloidogyne arenaria, M. javanica, and M. hapla.

Pangola digitgrass (Digitaria decumbens Stent.) can be used as a pasture grass or it can be harvested as hay. I t originated in Africa and has been in t roduced to other tropical and subtropical areas of the world. Winchester and Haysl ip (5) repor ted that the grass e l iminated populat ions of the root&not nematode, Meloidogyne incognita acrita Chitwood and Oteifa, 1952. Overman (3) sampled 74 pastures of Pangola digitgrass and found M. incognita Kofoid and White, 1919 in only one. T h a t pasture had been in Pangola digitgrass only one year. Haroon and Smart (1) confirmed that Pangola digitgrass is antagonistic to M. incognita. Other species of Meloidogyne, especially M. ]avanica (Treub, 1885) Chitwood, 1949 and M. arenaria (Neal, 1889) Clfitwood, 1949, are present in regions where Pangola digitgrass may be grown. T h e three species of Meloidogyne mentioned previously plus M. hapla Chitwood, 1949 are the four most common species of Meloidogyne on a world basis (4). Since the grass is known to be antagonistic to M. incognita, experiments were conducted to determine whether it is antagonistic to the three other most common species of Meloidogyne. Forty 15-cm-d clay pots were filled with autoclaved Arredondo fine sand. Twen t y of the pots were planted with one unrooted