Identification of Plant Parasitic Nematodes of Alfalfa Fields in Ahar– East Azarbaijan Province

Alfalfa with 78631 hectares area in East Azarbaijan province and approximately 6410 hectares in Ahar region is an important field crop in this area. There was no compre­hensive research about the plant parasitic nematodes associated with alfalfa, therefore during 2002-2003, 33 soil samples were collected from alfalfa fields of several locations in alfalfa fields in Ahar region, partly biodiversity plant parasitic nematodes in this crop were identified.
Nematodes were extracted by combined sieving and centrifugal-floatation and were transferred to glycerin method. After preparation, microscopic slides were examined under the light microscope. Measurements and drawing of nematodes were carried out using a drawing tube equipped with the micro­scope. Different species were identified on the basis of morphological characters as well as morphometric parameters and available literature. In this survey, 20 species of 11 genera belonging to suborder Tylenchina included:
Boleodorus thylactus, Coslenchus aquaticus, Criconemella antipolitana, Ditylenchus dipsaci, Ditylenchus medicaginis, Geocenamus brevidens, Geocenamus nanus, Geocenamus quadrifer, Helicotylenchus digonicus, Helicotylenchus pseudorobustus, Helicotylenchus, Paratylenchus italiensis, Paratylenchus tateae, Pratylenchus scribneri, Pratylenchus neglectus, Pratylenchus thornei, Psilenchus iranicus, Tylenchorhynchus parvus, Tylenchorhynchus striatus, Zygotylenchus guevarai were identified. Finally, Coslenchus aquaticus and Tylenchorhynchus striatus are new records of plant parasitic nematodes fauna from Iran.