Community structure of soil inhabiting nematodes in an apple orchard at Bandipore, Kashmir, India

Abstract

Community structure of soil inhabiting nematodes from a fifty year apple orchard (Pyrus mallus) was studied. Nematode roles were assessed in terms of generic frequency, diversity, density and trophic diversity, as well as some common ecological indices. Ten randomly selected composite samples yielded 37 genera belonging to 8 orders. They were allotted different trophic groups on the basis of their feeding habits. Total nematode numbers extracted averaged 637/100 cc of soil. Of the total population, 43% were herbivores, 32.1% bacteriovores, 11% were predators, 7% omnivores and 6% fungivores. Their mean density ranged from .5-50 per 100cc of soil in the entire nematode population studied. Identified nematode genera were assigned c-p values, most of which belonged to cp 3 and 4 (18 genera), thus giving an idea of stability of nematode populations in the studied apple orchard.