Guava trees exhibiting symptoms of root-knot and foliar yellowing were observed in a backyard orchard in Juan José Ríos, Sinaloa, Mexico. Based on a combination of morphological characteristics, detection using species-specific primers, and phylogenetic analysis employing ITS and coxI sequences, the nematode was identified as Meloidogyne enterolobii. The pathogenicity of M. enterolobii was confirmed by inoculating guava seedlings, which consistently developed root galling symptoms and exhibited a reproduction factor of 21.2 at 110 days post-inoculation. This study constitutes the first report of M. enterolobii causing root-knot disease in guava in Mexico.
Tovar-Pedraza et al. (Wed,) studied this question.