Host status of stinking passion flower and yellow passion fruit to Rotylenchulus reniformis, Meloidogyne javanica and Pratylenchus brachyurus

Abstract Stinking passion flower (Passiflora foetida L.) is an herbaceous vine used due its medicinal properties. It could be an option to be used as a rootstock for sour passion fruit (P. edulis). This interest was especially motivated by its resistance to Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. passifloraeand F. solani, two soilborne pathogens that severely limit the sour passion fruit cultivation in Brazil. Phytonematodes are other important soil pathogens to most crops, including Passiflora species, and they often interact synergistically with pathogenic Fusarium spp. strains. However, the host status of stinking passion flower to phytonematodes was not assessed yet. Therefore, three pot experiments were carried out in order to assess the reproduction of Rotylenchulus reniformis, Meloidogyne javanica and on Pratylenchus brachyurusstinking passion flower and sour passion fruit. Both P. foetida and P. edulis were susceptible to R. reniformis, but immune (or highly resistant) to both M. javanica and P. brachyurus. Based on previous and the present work, R. reniformis stands out and could be pointed as the most important species to species of Passiflora.