Nematode induced diseases in black pepper

Abstract

Black pepper is cultivated as a monocrop in most of the pepper growing countries like Indonesia, Malaysia, Brazil etc. while in Kerala, India, it is mostly grown as a mixed crop in homesteads, trailed either on arecanut or coconut palms or other trees, or as a companion crop in coffee or cocoa plantations. Crops like banana, elephant foot yam, colocasia, ginger, turmeric and a variety of vegetable are also grown along with pepper in homestead gardens in India. Such crop combinations play an important role in building up populations of certain polyphagous pests and pathogens, and they are major constraints limiting production and productivity of pepper. Among such constraints, the most serious ones are diseases induced by fungal pathogens like Phytophthora sp., Fusarium solani and plant parasitic nematodes organisms lead to disease complexes in all major pepper growing countries. Abiotic factors like soil moisture, temperature and nutritional status of the soil also have definite roles in the onest, progression and severity of the diseases.