Root-knot nematodes from the genus Meloidogyne are a cosmopolitan
group of obligate plant-parasites. Meloidogyne species are able to
parasitize virtually all species of higher plants in the world. Moreover,
Meloidogyne species are considered to be an important limiting factor in
vegetable protection. So, Root knot nemaotde Meloidogyne is a serious
threat to agriculture worldwide. Till 2006, 111 species had been
decribed, in which 18 species were found on coffee.
Till 2000, five species of the genus Meloidogyne were recorded on
coffee including M. incognita, M. javanica, M. exigua, M. coffeicola and
M. paranaensis. Among five species above, M. incognita causes damage
on almost all the coffee growing areas as well as all other crops. Many
studies on coffee and pepper in Vietnam indicated that M. incognita is
the most important species causing damages. Trinh et al. (2013) also
announced the presence of two species of M. exigua and M. coffeicola on
coffee, and indicated the presence of harmful Meloidogyne species in
Tay Nguyen Highlands is pretty serious and needs to be investigated in
more detail. And, there are many species of Meloidogyne have not been
discovered and published.
Morphological analysis of perineal patterns from adult Meloidogyne
females is often used as a rapid diagnostic tool. However, there are some
major limitations with this approach, including overlapping of
morphological characters, which can lead to misidentification. Some
coffee-parasitising nematodes, such as M. izalcoensis, M. paranaensis,
and M. incognita, have the overlapping of characters related to female
perineal patterns. Additional diagnostic power can be used such as
molercular characterisation of some genes including 18S, ITS, and 28S
of rDNA and COI, COII of mtDNA