Project Overview

Reports

Commodities

• Additional Plants: tobacco

• Agronomic: other, soybeans

• Vegetables: cucurbits, sweet potatoes

Target Pests

• Target Pests: nematodes

Practices

• Pest Management: cultural control, genetic resistance, host resistance

• Production Systems: agroecosystems

Guava Root Knot Nematode (GRKN), Meloidogyne enterolobii, is an emerging crop pest in the Southern United States with the potential to affect many vegetable crops, soybean, sweetpotato, and tobacco. The species appears more aggressive than the other endemic root-knot nematode species found in the southern states. With such a broad host range, it is difficult to find profitable non-host rotational crops to reduce GRKN populations on infested fields. North Carolina and surrounding states have a very diverse agricultural landscape and there is room for new crops to be added to the rotation where markets exist if non-host alternatives can be identified. Sesame is a new crop to North Carolina and we have preliminary evidence of its tolerance and potential resistance to GRKN and other plant parasitic nematodes which are problematic in agricultural systems. The project goal is to evaluate sesame as a rotational crop for reducing populations of GRKN in infested fields. We will evaluate five sesame varieties and one susceptible crop host (soybean) in fields known to be infested with M. enterolobii for their capacity to reduce GRKN populations when used as a rotational crop. Soil samples will be taken at the time of planting and again at the time of harvest and nematode assays will be run to quantify presence of GRKN. Crops will also be taken to yield to confirm profitability for producers. This is a seed project and we will start our investigation March 1, 2023 and end February 29^th 2024. Initial testing will be in North Carolina through North Carolina State University, but results will be useful to other southern states where soybean, sweetpotato, tobacco, vegetable crops and sesame can be grown. We are requesting 25,093 to complete this work. Our target audience includes current soybean, sweetpotato, vegetable, tobacco, and grain producers, as well as industry stakeholders who support each of these industries. We will provide outreach through several methods including traditional in-person meetings, video content, social media, and written content provided on paper and on web portals.

The project goal is to evaluate sesame as a rotational crop for reducing populations of guava root knot nematode (GRKN) in infested fields. To accomplish this as a team we will: 

1. Establish two field trials on GRKN infested land where we test five varieties of sesame for their ability to suppress populations of GRKN compared to the susceptible crop, soybean.
2. We will create one factsheet summarizing our findings and making recommendations for growers to adopt sesame varieties capable of suppressing GRKN.
3. We will host one production meeting for growers and industry stakeholders to inform growers and demonstrate our results.
4. We will create one video on the importance of using non-host crops for rotation on infested fields. 
5. We will post updates and results to our team's social media channels and web portals.