The molecular data of D2-D3 of 28S rRNA region, morphometrics, and morphological features of second-stage juveniles, males, and females in the present study have confirmed that the root-knot nematode recovered from pomelo in Vietnam belongs to M. enterolobii. To the best of our knowledge, this represents the first report of M. enterolobii infecting pomelo, providing new insight into the host status of this important pest. | ACADEMIA JOURNAL OF BIOLOGY 2023 45 2 37 46 DOI 2615-9023 18118 FIRST REPORT OF ROOT-KNOT NEMATODE Meloidogyne enterolobii INFECTING POMELO Citrus maxima Burm. Merri IN VIETNAM Thi Mai Linh Le1 2 Huu Tien Nguyen1 2 Thi Duyen Nguyen1 2 Giang Son Nguyen1 Quang Phap Trinh1 2 1 Institute of Ecology and Biological Resources VAST Vietnam 2 Graduate University of Science and Technology VAST Vietnam Received 25 February 2023 accepted 8 June 2023 ABSTRACT Meloidogyne enterolobii Yang amp Eisenback 1983 is amongst the most aggressive root-knot nematodes causing significant annual losses worldwide to many crops and emerging in many countries recently. Although plants belonging to the citrus family such as grapefruit and citrus have been reported as non-hosts or poor hosts for M. enterolobii our study recorded the heavy infection of a root-knot nematode that resembles M. enterolobii on pomelo a species in the citrus family. The molecular data of D2-D3 of 28S rRNA region morphometrics and morphological features of second-stage juveniles males and females in the present study have confirmed that the root-knot nematode recovered from pomelo in Vietnam belongs to M. enterolobii. To the best of our knowledge this represents the first report of M. enterolobii infecting pomelo providing new insight into the host status of this important pest. Keywords Emerging pest molecular new host root-knot nematode taxonomy. Citation Thi Mai Linh Le Huu Tien Nguyen Thi Duyen Nguyen Giang Son Nguyen Quang Phap Trinh 2023. First report of root-knot nematode Meloidogyne enterolobii infecting pomelo Citrus maxima Burm. Merri in Vietnam. Academia Journal of Biology 45 2 37 46. https 2615-9023 18118 Corresponding author email tqphap@ 2023 Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology VAST 37 Thi Mai Linh Le et al. INTRODUCTION M. enterolobii on pomelo Citrus maxima The guava root-knot nematode Burm. Merr. in Vietnam. The population Meloidogyne enterolobii was described .
