Diversity and distribution of plant-parasitic nematodes in golf greens and football pitches

We surveyed golf greens and football pitches to characterise the species diversity, distribution and importance of plant-parasitic nematodes in Belgian turf grass. The survey included quantification and identification. Extraction-efficiencies of centrifugal flotation method and Baermann funnel techniques were statistically compared. Fifty-five nematode-taxa were morphologically identified from the in total 46 soil samples. Identified plant-parasitic nematodes belong to twenty-three different genera and compromised nine nematode-families. Population densities in golf greens were a 4.5 fold higher than those in football pitches, with an average of 482 nematodes in samples of golf greens and 108 in football pitches. The five most abundant species in golf greens were Helicotylenchus pseudorobustus, Heterodera mani, Heterodera ustinovi, Heterodera hordecalis en Puctodera punctata. In sportfields the most prominent species were Meloidogyne naasi, Heterodera ustinovi, Helicotylenchus pseudorobustus, Tylenchorynchus dubius en Helicotylenchus varicaudatus. Eight species belonging to the Tylenchomorpha are new records for the Belgian nematofauna. The genus Rotylenchulus and subfamily Rotylenchulinae are respectively first genusrecord and the subfamilyrecord for Belgium. The genus Paralongidorus was detected for the second time in Belgium. Meloidogyne minor was found in three different golf courses. This recently described species has already been correlated with damage on golf greens and sportfields (yellow patch disease). Cyst nematodes were found in almost all samples and were characterized by a high species diversity and population density. Plant-parasitic nematodes are important in turf grass and the diversity is higher than expected. However, a clear link between species density and damage could not yet be established for lack of damage tresholdlevels applicable for sportgrassfields in Europe. Further research is recommended