Host Response of Ornamental Palms to Rotylenchulus reniformis

The responses of 20 species of ornamental palms and one cycad (Cycas revoluta) to two populations of the reniform nematode, Rotylenchulus reniformis, from southern Florida were studied in two greenhouse experiments conducted in 1989-1991 and 1991-92. Ornamental palms in pots were exposed to initial population densities of 400 and 1,500 R. reniformis/l00 cm(3) soil for 16 and 15 months, respectively. Nematode reproduction occurred on Acoelorrhaphe wrightii and Washingtonia robusta, but not on the other palms or the cycad. In both experiments, nematode numbers on A. wrightii and W. robusta were significantly smaller than those on cowpea (Vigna unguiculata), a susceptible host of the nematode used as a control in these experiments. Nematodes surviving in pots containing nonhost palms for 16 months retained infectivity and were able to reproduce on susceptible cowpea in a bioassay. Sections from Washingtonia robusta roots infected by R. reniformis females showed the nematode feeding on syncytia formed by endodermal, pericyclic, and vascular parenchyma cells in a manner similar to that reported for other monocot hosts of the reniform nematode.