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Six belonolaim species were collected from grasslands of Sabalan region. The found species belong to genera Amplimerlinius, Merlinius, Nagelus, Neodolichorhynchus, Paramerlinius and Tylenchorhynchus. Among the found species, Neodolichorhynchus judithae is reported for the first time from Iran and is characterized byhaving offset head, cuticule with 16 longitudinal ridges, delicate stylet 21-23 µm long, presence of post intestinal sac and tail with annulated terminus.

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  Morphological and morphometric characters of two species of superfamily Sphaerularioidea, recovered in southwestern Iran namely Deladenus durus and Prothallonema obtusum are given. The recovered specimens of D. durus are characterized by having a valvular chamber in metacorpus and excretory pore posterior to the hemizonid.The Iranian population of P. obtusum is characterized by having four lines in the lateral field, excretory pore anterior to the end of pharynx, not bulgy vulva region and short subcylindrical tail.

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In order to identification of plant parasitic nematodes associated with plants in fruit orchards of West Azerbaijan province, Iran, a survey was conducted during 2011 and 2012. Nematodes were extracted from soil and root samples by using centrifugal-flotation and Whitehead's tray, transferred to glycerin and mounted in permanent slides. Morphological and morphometrical characters of the specimens were analyzed and measurated. As a result, 26 species belonging to 21 different genera of tylenchids (Tylenchomorpha, Nematoda) were identified that are presented. Mesocriconema surinamense and Pratylenchoides crenicauda are reported for the first time from Iran. Iranian population of Psilenchus aestuarius is also illustrated here. M. surinamense ischaracterized by having a disk like head originated fromlarge submedian lobes of lip region and morphometic characters. P. crenicauda is the type species of the genus Pratylenchoides and distinguished by areolated lateral lines on the tail, short pharyngeal overlap and position of pharyngeal glands. P. aestuarius is characterized by rounded and smooth head, presence of post anal intestinal sac in both sexes and several morphometric characters.  

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Two species of Pratylenchoides recovered from the grasslands in Sabalan region and one species recovered from natural habitats of Tehran are illustrated based on morphological, morphometric and molecular characters. The first species, P. crenicauda is characterized mainly by its lip region with three-four annuli, lateral field with four incisures areolated throughout the length and having rod shaped sperm cells. It is further distinguished by the positions of the pharyngeal glands nuclei. P. magnicauda was found in Tehran and its morphological characters and phylogenetic relations with other species are discussed. The Iranian populations of P. variabilis are characterized by three lip annuli, stylet 20-22 µm long, four and six incisures in lateral field, rounded sperm and one of the pharyngeal glands nuclei located posterior to pharyngo-intestinal valve. The phylogenetic tree inferred from the partial sequences of D2-D3 segment of 28S rDNA revealed the three sequenced species are separate from each other and form a clade with high (1.00) Bayesian posterior probability (BPP) in Bayesian inference (BI) and 86% bootstrap support value (BS) in maximum likelihood (ML) analyses with other two sequenced species of the genus for this genomic region.

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In this study, Trichoderma harzianum BI was evaluated for its capability to reduce the incidence and severity of the root-knot nematode, Meloidogyne javanica, and Fusarium wilt, F. oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici, as causal agents of a complex disease of tomato in the laboratory and greenhouse conditions. Initial in vitro studies revealed that the parasitism of M. javanica eggs by T. harzianum BI was up to 49.6%. In dual culture tests, maximum growth inhibition of F. oxysporum f. sp. lycopersiciby T. harzianum BI (55%) was observed on the fifth day in laboratory. In greenhouse studies, the efficiency of treatments was appraised by using nematode-related factors such as diameter of galls, number of galls per plant, number of egg masses per plant and also incidence of Fusarium wilt. The antagonistic fungus was further tested for its ability to induce production of defense related enzymes in tomato. The activity of phenylalanine ammonia lyase (PAL) was increasedsignificantly in the seedlings treated with the antagonistic fungus in comparison with control and its maximum amount was reached on the fourth day after inoculation with T. harzianum BI. Thus, the present study shows that in addition to direct antagonism, induction of defense-related enzymes, by T. harzianum BI that are involved in PAL pathway contributed to enhanced resistance against invasion of

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Culture filtrates (CF) of two species of the nematophagous fungi, Arthrobotrys oligospora and Arthrobotrys conoidesat three concentrations (25%, 50% and 100%) of stock, were tested on the mortality of second stage juveniles (J2) and egg hatching rate of Meloidogyne incognita and Meloidogyne javanica. Results showed that the percent juvenile mortality was directly proportional to concentration of the filtrates. Egg hatching rate of these nematodes was inversely affected by increasing concentrations. Also CFs had various impacts on the mortality of J2 and egg hatching rate. In case of M. incognita maximum J2 mortality (28.98%) occurred after 24 hours of exposure to A. conoides filtrate at concentration of 100%. The minimum toxicity (12.5% J2 mortality) was recorded for A. oligospora at 25% filtrate concentration. At the same time, the highest rate of J2 mortality of M. javanica (19.18%) belonged to the 100% concentration of A. conoides, while minimum toxicity belonged to 25% concentration of A. oligospora causing 9.09% mortality. Maximum egg hatching rate for M. incognita (30.75%) belonged to control and minimum hatching rate (1.25%) belonged to 100% concentration of A. conoides. The highest hatching rate of M. javanica (36.25%)belonged to control and minimum hatching rate (1.25%) occurred at 100% concentration of A. conoides.

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Leptonchus granulosus, recovered from Lorestan province, is described and illustrated based on morphological, morphometric and molecular data. The Iranian population of the species is characterized by its body length of 1091 - 1374 mm, cuticle distinctly two layered, outer layer finely annulated, inner layer distinctly annulated, being partly separated from the body and shriveled after fixation, cap-like lip region separated from the rest of body by constriction, distinctly sclerotised walls of prestoma and stoma, delicate needle-like odontostyle with distinct narrow lumen, 8.0-9.5 mm long, slightly arcuate odontophore, 17-21 mm long, with arms slightly thickened at base, small pear-shaped pharyngeal bulb, occupying 16.6-24.3% of pharynx length, simple intestine, very long prerectum (617-663 µm long), its junction with intestine having three distinct guard cells located between anterior ovary and cardia, didelphic female reproductive system, composed of equally sized less developed tracts, but with distinct parts (tubular uterus, simple oviduct and ovary), conoid to hemispheroid tail and absence of males. In comparison with the available reports of the species, no remarkable variation in morphometric data ranges was observed. This is the first representative of the genus for Iran’s nematode fauna found so far. Molecular phylogenetic studies of Iranian population of L. granulosus using 1669 nt partial sequences of 18S rDNA revealed it forming a clade with another isolate of the species in Bayesian inference (BI) with 0.95 Bayesian posterior probability (BPP).

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Several soil samples were taken from western parts of Iran. One of the samples col-lected from the rhizosphere of nectarine trees (Prunus persica L.) in Moghan, Ardabil Province, contained Aprutides guidettii. The species Subanguina picridis was recovered from leaf gall of Serratula latifolia Boiss (Asteraceae) in the vicinity of Mashhad, Khorasan Province. Although this species showed remarkable differences from the origi-nal description, it was considered to be S. picrides considering the high level of variability described in the literature. Both species are described in detail and documented with drawings. Additional morphological data are illustrated by means of SEM. Subanguina picridis is described here for the first time from Iran.

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Three known species of the family Criconematidae namely Criconema crotaloides, C. princeps and Ogma zernovi were recovered from natural forests in Golestan province, and were characterized based upon their morphological and morphometric characters. The Iranian population of C. crotaloides was recovered from the rhizosphere of Fraxinus excelsior and is characterized by females 517-594 μm long, having 64-70 not retrorse body annuli with smooth margin without lateral differentiation and RV = 11-14. The second species, C. princeps, was associated with Carpinus betulus and is characterized by females 421-506 μm long, having 63-69 rounded to retrorse body annuli with smooth margin, marked by distinct lateral triangular arches and RV = 11-12. The main characteristics of this species and the status of some other previously reported populations as C. princeps were discussed. The last species, Ogma zernovi, was recovered from the rhizosphere of Quercus sp., and is characterized by females 350-653 μm long, having 58-64 retrorse body annuli, each annulus with nine rows of short smooth scales in the middle of the body, the scales uni- or bi-lobulated, RV = 9-11, tail conoid and the last three annuli without projections. New observations on its morphology were added, comparisons were made with the type populations of the species and characteristics of the species were updated with including data of males and juveniles. Compared to the type populations, no remarkable differences were observed for the three studied species. All the three species represent new records for Iran.
  

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Three populations of criconematids belonging to the subfamily Macroposthoniinae, representing three species Mesocriconema kirjanovae, M. surinamense and Criconemoides amorphous were recovered from two different geographical localities in East Azarbaijan province, northwest Iran. The recovered populations were characterized morphologically. Iranian population of M. kirjanovae is characterized by 437-542 μm long females, having 86-97 retrorse body annuli with smooth to finely crenated margin, cephalic region with two, non-retrorse annuli, 56-62 μm long stylet, the anterior lip of the vulva with two projections and conical tail with acute tip. The recovered population of M. surinamense is characterized by 495-640 μm long females, having 87-94 retrorse body annuli with smooth margin, four very large and flattened submedian lobes, 74-82 μm long stylet, open vulva, its anterior lip with two small lobes, vagina straight and tail rounded with one or two terminal lobes. The Iranian population of C. amorphous is characterized by 502-697 μm long females, having 66-73 retrorse body annuli with smooth to rough margin, four pseudo-submedian lobs, labial disc elevated, 72-80 μm long stylet, vulva closed, tail bluntly conoid and its tip uni- to multi- lobed. The characteristics of the three studied species were in agreement with those of the original; and the data of other populations. The two species M. kirjanovae and M. surinamense are new to nematode fauna of Iran; and the morphological and morphometric data of the Iranian population of C. amorphous are presented for the first time.

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The reproductive range of the Iranian population of white tip nematode in rice, Aphel-enchoides besseyi, was investigated in vitro to find out a suitable medium as well as a fa-vorable fungal host for monoxenic culturing this nematode. Studies were carried out on rice seed associated fungi, pathogenic fungi and one mushroom (Agaricus bisporus) grown on three culture media, RPA (rice polish agar), OMA (oat meal agar) and PDA (potato dextrose agar). The nematode showed the greatest multiplication on Fusarium verticillioides, F. proliferatum, Curvularia lunata and Magnaporthe salvini in OMA and on Alternaria alternata, Bipolaris oryzae and Pyricularia oryzae in PDA. Among the fungi, tested A. alternata, C. lunata, F. verticillioides, B. oryzae, M. salvini, F. proliferatum and P. oryzae supported a high reproduction rate in the nematode in a descending rank. The nematode failed to multiply on Aspergillus niger, Rhizoctonia solani and Agaricus bis-porus grown on any of the three media. The highest sex ratio (F:M) was achieved on OMA but the highest male percentage ratio was observed on PDA. The two pathogenic fungi, B. oryzae and M. salvini are reported as new fungal hosts for monoxenic culturing of this nematode.

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The relationship between initial population density of rice white tip nematode (Aphelenchoides besseyi) and yield was examined on Oryzae sativa cv. Alikazemi. Experiments were conducted in greenhouse, micro-plot and field conditions. Seinhorst’s model was used to describe the relationship between nematode population density and crop yield. The parameters of the model, minimum yield (m), constant coefficient (z) and tolerance limit (T) were obtained from the experimental data. On this basis, the predicted yield was calculated within the initial population (Pi) range. To evaluate the difference between the observed yield (Yo) and the predicted yield (Yp), a discrepancy ratio (DR) was calculated. The results revealed that there was a significant correlation between mean yield reduction and nematode populations (P<0.01). At the highest initial population density, grain yield was reduced by 69%. In greenhouse experiments, the discrepancy ratio was larger than 0.03 and the predicted yield was overestimated compared to that predicted in microplot or field experiments. The model had the minimum mean of error when data were incorporated from the field experiments (ME= 0.0149). The indices from microplot and greenhouse experiments were 0.0823 and 0.2036, respectively. The relationship between nematode population density and relative grain yield fitted to the model was under field conditions.

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During a survey of plant-parasitic nematodes in Bamyan and Mazar Sharif provinces of Afghanistan, several species of plant-parasitic nematodes belonging to infraorder Tylenchomorpha were detected and identified. Filenchus facultativus; Filenchus discrepans; Filenchus elegantulus; Boleodorus volutus; Neopsilenchus magnidens; Coslenchus costatus; Ditylenchus myceliophagus; Tylenchorhynchus clarus; Paratylenchus microdorus and Merlinius neohexagrammus are reported here for the first time from Afghanistan. Detailed examination of M. neohexagrammus using SEM microscopy confirmed this species in the genus Merlinius by having a labial disc not marked and with four longitudinal striations on the lip region, amphid apertures located at the lateral edge of labial disc and lateral field at mid-body areolated.

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Four tylenchid species, namely, Aglenchus agricola, Malenchus exiguus, Psilenchus curcumerus, and P. terextremus are reported from Iran. The Iranian population of A. agricola is characterized by 542-659 µm long body, 10-12 µm long stylet, excretory pore at 70-87 µm distance from anterior end, prominent lateral fields, with four lines, tail of 170-198 long, and rare males with 15-20 µm long spicules. Iranian population of M. exiguus is characterized by 362-412 µm long body, 8-10 µm long stylet, lateral fields with two crenated lines, originating at mid-region of procorpus and ending at 1/3 of the tail length, PUS of 6-9 µm, tail 65-89 µm long and common males with 13-19 µm long spicules. The recovered population of P. curcumerus is characterized by having a smooth head region, 12-15 µm long stylet, presence of post-rectal sac and filiform tail with clavate terminus and the Iranian population of P. terextremus is characterized by lateral fields with crenate margins, appearing as a simple band, with two or three weakly developed bands in cross section and lateral view, respectively, median bulb anterior to the middle of the pharynx and filiform tail with rounded tip. The morphological and morphometric characters of the recovered populations and their differences and similarities with those given in the original descriptions are discussed.

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 Linked and/or gene-based molecular markers have been used widely in marker-assisted selection (MAS) to differentiate resistant and susceptible genotypes. Resistance to Meloidogyne spp. in Beta vulgaris L. is mediated by a single dominant gene (R6m-1). Using allele-specific primers (ASPs), an SNP marker harboring a single nucleotide polymorphism (A/G), linked to the resistance gene was developed to differentiate resistant genotypes. The differentiation among the resistant and susceptible genotypes was elucidated in the polymorphic bands of 555, 478 and 124 bp in size, using PCR amplification. The genotyping data using the SNP marker was firmly associated with the bioassay evaluation in the greenhouse for 100 sugar beet genotypes. This data indicated that the present robust marker allowed reliable, sensitive, faster, and cheaper large scale screening of B. vulgaris genotypes for nematode resistance breeding programs.

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Three species belonging to three genera of the family Tylenchidae, namely, Cephalenchus leptus, Eutylenchus excretorius, and Lelenchus leptosoma were discovered as first reports for Iran's nematode fauna. They were characterized by morphological, morphometric and molecular phylogenetic studies. The two latter genera are new for Iran. Iranian population of Cephalenchus leptus is characterized by lateral field with six lines in females, stylet length of 16-20 µm and tail length of 153-290 µm with pointed tip. The recovered population of Eutylenchus excretorius is characterized by 848-1,038 µm long females’ body, stylet length of 20.0-21.5 µm, having advulval flaps and absence of male. The Iranian population of Lelenchus leptosoma is defined by its narrow slender body, flattened lip region, sinuous amphidial opening and absence of lateral field. The phylogenetic relationships of the three recovered species were studied using the partial sequences of 28S rDNA D2/D3 segment and revealed the genera Cephalenchus and Eutylenchus forming a monophyletic clade, while, Lelenchus was placed inside the clade of currently sequenced species of Malenchus in Bayesian tree.

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To identify the Cereal Cyst Nematodes (CCN) and their distribution and population density in wheat fields in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province based on interpolation by geographic information system, a total of 212 composite soil and root samples were randomly collected from different wheat fields of nine districts of the province during 2013-2014. The soil samples were explored for number of cysts, second-stage Juveniles (J2) and eggs. The species were identified based on morphological, morphometric and molecular characteristics. Analysis was performed by Arc GIS software using interpolation technique for determination of raster map. The results showed that 42% of soil samples were infested with Heterodera filipjevi containing an average of 994 eggs and J2 per 200 g of soil. The maximum infestation was observed in Dehsahra region in Lordegan district with an average of 4720 eggs and J2 per 200 g soil. Wheat fields of Kohrang, Kiyar and Farsan districts showed low population density while moderate infestation was observed in Ardal, Ben, Saman and Borujen districts. Instead high population density of H. filipjevi was found in Shahrekord and Lordegan. Based on interpolation of population density and interpolation maps, the eastern part of Shahrekord and southern and western parts of Lordegan districts were predicted as regions with high infestation to H. filipjevi and considered as hotspots for this disease.