9 ref. Sum. (En)

Seventeen phyto-parasitic nematode genera were associated with plantain crops at 21 locations. Helicotylenchus spp. (mainly H. multicinctus), Radopholus similis, Meloidogyne spp., Pratylenchus spp, and Rotylenchulus reniformis were found in soil and root samples from 95 percent, 76 per cent, 67 percent and 67 percent respectively of the locations. Helicotylenchus and Radopholus were generally associated with unthriftiness, poor production and high incidences of plant loss due to toppling or blow-down. Pratylenchus occurred mostly in low to moderate populations but at one holding, P. coffeae caused severe injury to and setback of plants resulting in early abondonment of the field. Nematodes of the genera Radopholus, Helicotylenchus and Pratylenchus have been shown to cause severe damage to plantain crops in Jamaica. High populations of Rotylenchulus reniformis were encountered in instances but this nematode appeared to be of limited importance and only when Radopholus, Helicotylenchus or Pratylenchus were absent or not yet dominant. Meloidogyne spp., although widespread, never appeared to cause significant damage to plantain crops. The other nematodes (Pratylenchus, Criconemoides, Xiphinema, Longidorus, Cacopaurus, Tylenchorhynchus, Trichodorus, Hoplolaimus, Tylenchus, Ditylenchus, Aphelenchoides and Aphelenchus) were not widely distributed, were found only in soil and apart from Paratylenchus or Longidorus which seemed to be somewhat responsible for damage observed in two fields, appeared to be of little or no importance to this crop