No-tillage system has been used in many agricultural areas of Brazil, creating conditions that may increase the damage caused by phytonematodes in the main crops, depending on the host status of the plants used as cover crops. Guinea grass (Panicum maximum) and brachiaria grasses (Brachiaria spp.) are useful in areas infested by root-knot nematodes, because they are non-hosts or poor hosts of Meloidogyne incognita and M. javanica, but host status of these grasses for Pratylenchus brachyurus has scarcely been studied. Therefore, two greenhouse experiments were carried out in order to characterize the host status of five species and one hybrid of brachiaria grasses [Brachiaria decumbens, B. brizantha, B. humidicola, B. dyctioneura, B. ruziziensis, and Mulato grass (B. ruziziensis x B. brizantha)], and two cultivars of P. maximum ('Mombaça' and 'Tanzânia') for P. brachyurus. The experiments were similar to each other, except in the origin of the nematode population, Pb20 coming from okra roots and Pb24 from cotton roots. Final nematode populations from substrate and roots were estimated 118 days after inoculation for Pb20 and 131 days for Pb24. Results showed that all the tested grasses host P. brachyurus, but at different degrees. Guinea grass and Mulato grass appeared to be good hosts of P. brachyurus, with a reproduction factor (RF = Pf/Pi) ranging from 4.96 to 12.17 for Pb20 and from 10.38 to 13.18 for Pb24: thus they should be avoided as cover crops in fields infested with the nematode. Conversely, B. dyctioneura proved to be a poor host of P. brachyurus, with RF = 1.01 - 1.32.
cover crop; lesion nematode; no-tillage
