Reniform Nematodes Bound for the Border

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A tiny worm that could affect most crops grown in the state is heading or the New Mexico border. New Mexico State University's Anna María Pérez-Wright reports.

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New Mexico State University researchers say a devastating tropical worm, smaller than the head of a pin, is bound for the New Mexico border, and now is the time to stop it. Nematologist Stephen Thomas with N-M-S-U's Agricultural Experiment Station says reniform nematodes have spread west through Southeastern states for four decades, and are now just a county away in the Texas Panhandle. Cotton is most threatened, but the tiny worms potentially affect every crop grown in New Mexico, with the possible exception of alfalfa.

"There is no varietial resistance to reniform in any crop known. The fall-back situation has got to be the use of pesticides or nematicides."

Reniform nematode infestations produce stunted plants that yield poorly. Damage is caused when the tiny worm sticks its needle-like mouth into a root to suck out nutrients. Another reason to halt them at the stateline is that other states could functionally halt the movement of crops out of New Mexico if infestations were found here.

"This is going to be very costly and time-consuming because essentially we would have to certify every field as being free of reniform nematodes. It becomes a huge regulatory problem for growers."

Thomas says growers should be cautious in moving any soil from production sites in the Texas Panhandle to New Mexico. And since reniform nematodes are not easily detected early in the season, he says the best time to take soil samples is in late summer or early fall when populations are high. For N-M-S-U's College of Agriculture and Home Economics, I'm Anna María Pérez-Wright.