THE FIRST STUDY ON ESPARTO GRASS NEMATODES IN THE ALGERIAN STEPPES (M'SILA - ALGERIA)

Abstract

A survey on nematodes of Esparto grass (Stipa tenacissima L.) was carried out in three stations located in the nature reserve of Mergueb (Ain el Hadjel - M'Sila).Our study aims to evaluate the diversity and trophic structure of nematodes associated with this grass plant distributed in the Algerian steppes, case of Mergueb natural reserve.In each station, we took a mixed sample composed of sub-samples of 200g to 300g of soil, at a depth of up to 30 cm from the ground, with one sample every 10m on a diagonal projection. The results revealed the presence of 13 species divided according to their diets into four trophic groups: phytophagous, fungivorous, bacteriovorous and predatory-omnivorous, whose densities of the latter vary according to the study stations where the phytophagous nematodes are more abundant (960 N/dm3 ) in the first station. The nematofauna is more abundant in station 1 (2640 N/dm3 ) followed by stations 2 and 3 with densities of 1100 N/dm3 and 400 N/dm3 , respectively. This study illustrates the effect of plant cover on the abundance and trophic structure of nematodes. The first station, covered by Alfa and some grasses, has the highest nematode densities, mainly plant parasites.

Keywords

• esparto grass
• trophic groups
• inventory
• steppes
• nematodes