LAUSR

Ditylenchus destructor Thorne (Tylenchida: Anguinidae) is a plant-parasitic nematode that causes garlic rot in Japan. A method that can be used to culture the nematode on garlic has not yet been established, but is required to be able to conduct studies for a better understanding of the nematode’s physiology and ecology. The purpose of this study was to develop such a culture method. Surface-sterilized nematodes (200 individuals) were inoculated onto a surface-sterilized garlic storage leaf on 1% agar in a 100 ml medium bottle, and incubated at 25 °C. Seven weeks after inoculation, a mean number of approximately 360,000 axenic nematodes per bottle was obtained. The culture method established in this study is simple, less laborious, and can be useful for the studies of D. destructor associated with garlic.