Results Of Questionnaire On Live Plant Health Nematode Collections

In the framework of the Euphresco project 2016-F-186 'Inventory of living collections of cyst and root knot nematodes in Europe and their maintenance techniques (Cyst and Melo Collect)', a survey was organised during the Autumn 2017 with the aim to collect information on the live nematode collections in different countries. 32 (reference) collections in Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Mexico, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, United Kingdom, and United States of America participated in the survey. Of the 32 mentioned collections the preferred nematode populations are clearly different between the USA and Europe: the tropical <em>Meloidogyne</em> species are the most represented in North America while <em>Globodera</em> species are in Europe. The comparison of the protocols for live nematode storage for short and long periods of time showed high variability, although in general, <em>Globodera</em> spp. can be stored at 4 °C for longer time (&gt;20 years) than <em>Meloidogyne</em> spp., whose optimal storage time is 8 months at 14 °C, when kept in soil. The need to verify the population for its trueness, with other words, the frequency of identification differs; various possibilities are mentioned between never and almost monthly to frequently, each time the nematodes are extracted from the soil (90 days for PCN, 16 weeks for <em>Meloidogyne</em>) to yearly or only upon arrival. The frequency depends on the amount of time people can afford to put into this work and the risk assessment for getting cross contamination. The conditions for rearing and maintaining were inventoried as well. For <em>Meloidogyne</em> spp., host differences for rearing and maintaining them are rarely observed (often <em>Solanum lycopersicum</em> -tomato- is used for both), although <em>Ficus carina</em> for long maintenance of <em>Meloidogyne</em> spp. and <em>Solanum dulcamara</em> for <em>M. fallax</em> have been used in France (pers. comm. Fabrice Ollivier, ANSES). For cyst nematode species their specific host is used for both rearing and maintenance purposes: <em>Solanum tuberosum</em> (potato), <em>Nicotiana tabacum</em> (tobacco), or <em>Glycine max</em> (soybean) are used respectively for the potato cyst nematodes (<em>Globodera rostochiensis</em> and <em>G. pallida</em>), <em>G. tabacum</em> and <em>G. glycines</em>. The project report is also available on Zenodo https://zenodo.org/record/1442881#.W7PaxmgzbIU