Cultivar Differences in the Level of Protection against Plant Parasitic Nematodes Conferred by Mycorrhizal Fungi Association on Plantain

The experiment was set up to investigate the relative mycorrhizal dependence of a Falsehorn and a French plantain cultivars with a view to ascertaining the effect on plant parasitic nematodes infection. The experiment was laid out in a completely randomized design, all suckers were pared prior to planting and treatment assigned as either inoculated with the mycorrhizal inoculant or not. At 182 days after planting (DAP), all plants were uprooted and assessed for root and rhizome damage. Plant parasitic nematodes were extracted from both root and soil samples taken from the hole of each plant after uprooting. The results of the study suggests a negative impact of mycorrhizal fungi on the built-up of plant parasitic nematode population on plantain with mycorrhizal inoculation causing a considerable reduction of 37.1% in plant parasitic nematode population density recovered from the roots of False horn plantain compared to just 7.71% reduction recorded for the French plantain genotype. On the contrary, mycorrhizal fungi inoculation caused more reduction (40%) in the plant parasitic nematode population densities per/1 litre of soil sample from the rhizosphere of French plantain than that of the Falsehorn plantain genotype. Mycorrhizal inoculation affected the species composition within location and cultivar response differed. This implied that the benefit of mycorrhizal fungi in managing plant parasitic nematodes on plantain is cultivar dependent as the French plantain genotype may better benefit from mychorrhizal fungi association than the Falsehorn in terms of protection against plant parasitic nematodes. Keywords: Glomus spp, mycorrhizal fungi, plant parasitic nematodes, plantain, genotypes, root healt