First report of the plant parasitic nematode Tylenchorhynchus mediterraneus on olive trees in Tunisia. Guesmi, I., Hadj-Naser, F., Horrigue-Raouani, N., Cantalapiedra-Navarrete, C., Palomares-Rius, J.E., and Castillo P. (Tunisia / Spain)

Abstract

Nematological analyses of soil samples collected from two olive orchards at Chott-Mariem (Center East Tunisia) and Sbiba (Center Tunisia) showed the presence of the stunt nematode Tylenchorhynchus mediterraneus which has been recently described in some cultivated and native plants in Southern Spain. The morphological and morpho-biometric studies of the Tunisian populations confirmed the species identification. Phylogenetic analysis based on nuclear ribosomal DNA genes (D2-D3 expansion segments of large ribosomal subunit 28S, and internal transcribed spacer 1 or ITS1) confirmed the species identification. Further work must be performed to test the pathogenicity of this plant-parasitic nematode on olive trees. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of this nematode in Tunisia, and the extend of its geographical distribution to North Africa.

Keywords

• D2-D3
• ITS rRNA
• morpho-biometric
• molecular phylogeny
• olive orchards
• Tylenchorhynchus mediterraneus