Resistance of Pepper Cultivars to Meloidogyne incognita

Four bell-pepper cultivars containing the N-gene for root-knot nematode resistance, three chilli-pepper cultivars, and nine bell-pepper cultivars commercially grown in the Coachella Valley of Southern California were evaluated for their susceptibility to a California population of Southern Root-Knot Nematode, Meloidogyne incognita race 3. Repeated greenhouse pot trials showed that the nematodes failed to reproduce or cause root symptoms on the four N-gene pepper cultivars. Two N-gene resistant cultivars were among the four cultivars with the highest fruit production. The chilli-pepper cultivars were good hosts for the nematodes, but several of the commercial Coachella Valley-grown bell-pepper cultivars were excellent hosts. Significant differences in host status existed among the commercially grown cultivars, with reproduction factors ranging from 2.7 to 26.0, suggesting that careful selection of commercially available cultivars may limit the rapid build-up of M. incognita populations in infested fields.