{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.016337644656228726, 'fraction_numerical': 0.0, 'mean_word_length': 5.363636363636363, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
Rice bean (Vigna umbellata) as an alternative to Adzuki bean (Vigna angularis) for culturing Meloidogyne incognita in soilless CYG germination pouches

Root-knot nematode, Meloidogyne incognita is a key global pest of agricultural and horticultural crops. The soil dwelling second-stage juveniles of the nematode species enter the plant roots and develop specialized feeding cells by modifying host plant physiology. Being obligate in nature the nematode cannot be multiplied in artificial media, and the traditional culturing is usually on soil-based tritrophic microcosm. The alternative use of CYG germination pouches provides a clean and contamination free culturing of the nematode species, where adzuki bean is used as a susceptible host. The present study introduces rice bean as an alternative to adzuki bean for maintenance of M. incognita in CYG germination pouches. The rice bean plants were found to harbour comparatively higher number of females leading to higher eggmass production than the adzuki plants. The reproductive fitness of M. incognita was not compromised in rice bean, and the maintenance of plants was easier due to determinate plant type with sturdy stems. This provides additional advantage of using rice bean in the germination pouches. Lastly, the rice bean plants offer clean and contamination free nematode culture which is highly suitable for downstream basic research to understand compatible/incompatible plant nematode interactions.