Monitoring Pratylenchus thornei densities in soil and roots under resistant (Triticum turgidum durum) and susceptible (Triticum aestivum) wheat cultivars

Pratylenchus thornei densities were monitored in field plots of two winter wheat cultivars in a dry farming area of southern Spain. Samples were taken fortnightly during the wheat-growing season and from the following dry fallow. Under durum wheat cv. 'Donpedro', nematode densities decreased thornei increased for 5 to 6 months and then were maintained or slightly decreased thereafter, surviving the summer dry fallow in an anhydrobiotic state (78.2% and 85.3% survival in soil and roots, respectively). Under durum wheat cv. 'Donpedro', nematode densities decreased over the growing season, although densities within the roots increased during the first 2 months of the wheat-growing period, indicating that nematodes could penetrate the roots of this cultivar but were unable to reproduce. These observations suggest resistance of wheat cv. Donpedro to P. thornei.