FIRST REPORT OF MELOIDOGYNE ENTEROLOBII ON SWEET POTATO IN FLORIDA, USA

Sweet potatoes with galled roots were collected from a commercial Asian vegetable farm located in Wimauma, FL in July 2020. Morphological characteristics of second-stage juveniles and perineal patterns of mature females were consistent with those of Meloidogyne enterolobii. Intergenic space region 2 (IGS2) and D2-D3 regions on the rDNA, and the COXII region on mtDNA were sequenced to confirm this root-knot nematode species as M. enterolobii. This is the first report of this species found on sweet potato in Florida.