Evaluation of urea amendments in microbiological media to quantify nematode trapping fungi

Lily Neilsen* and James Kotcon
Division of Plant and Soil Sciences, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV 26506-6108

Presentation No.: 32

Assigned Category (Presentation Format): Agricultural & Environmental Sciences (Poster Presentations)

Student’s Major: Environmental Science and Political Science

Plant-parasitic nematodes in soil are a threat to crops, but Nematode Trapping Fungi (NTF) can capture and kill nematodes. NTFs are important as biological controls, however, it's difficult to monitor and quantify NTF in soil. The objective of this project was to evaluate whether urea amendments in media can stimulate trap formation and improve monitoring of NTFs. To test this, six soil samples were collected and incubated on agar media with nematode eggs extracted from the roots of tomato plants. Spores from A. oligospora and Dactylaria spp. cultures were added in some trials. Water agar plates with various concentrations of urea were inoculated with combinations of soil, eggs, and fungal spores. Urea increased fungal trap formation on water agar (P<0.05), but not corn meal agar. Urea at 150, 300, 600, and 1200 mg/L increased trap formation compared to unamended plates, the maximum trap formation occurred with 300 mg/L. We conclude that trap formation is stimulated by adding nematodes and urea and the combined amendments gave the best trap recovery.

Funding:

Program/mechanism supporting research/creative efforts: WVU's SURE program (Rita Rio & Michelle Richards-Babb)