Study of the genetic of plant parasitic nematodes on bananas and plantains in Central and West Africa

In the framework of studying the genetic diversity of major parasitic nematodes of bananas and plantains in West and Central Africa, the Centre Africain de Recherches sur Bananiers et Plantains (CARBAP) started a project, which brought together research institute of Gabon, Cote d'Ivoire, France and university of Dschang . The targeted activities were mapping of major nematodes, estimation of damages, morphological and molecular characterization by AFLP and study of the pathogenicity of the nematodes. The results reported here include the distribution, damage and morphological characterization. In the three countries, 5 species were recorded viz: Radopholus similis, Helicotylenchus multicinctus, Meloidogyne spp., Hoplolaimus pararobustus and Pratylenchus coffeae. In addition to these, species, Pratylenchus goodeyi was found in the high altitude provinces of Cameroon (>800 metres). Among these species, the most damaging were R. similis, P. coffeae and P. goodeyi. The indices of root necrosis observed were 60% for Gabon, 50-80% in 6 out of the 7 provinces surveyed in Cameroon and 21% in the East province of Cameroon, which appeared to be relatively less infested due to little movement of planting materials. The results obtained on morphological characteristics showed that there were little significant differences on characteristics such as position of the vulva and total body length of females between populations of P. coffeae in Gabon and those of Cameroon. (Résumé d'auteur