Cotton Nematodes in Arkansas: Then and Now

Cotton acreage in Arkansas has declined by about 80% in Arkansas during the last five years.  Prior to the current decline, a majority of the cotton acreage in the state was in long-term monoculture.  Surveys of the incidence and identity of plant-parasitic nematodes associated with cotton in the state were conducted during the mid-1980s and again in the late 1990s indicating that both the southern root-knot nematode (Meloidogyne incognita) and the reniform nematode (Rotylenchulus reniformis) were abundant in many areas of the state.  This paper reports the results of a two-year survey of former cotton fields that have been under a soybean-corn cropping system during the past five years showing changes in nematode identity, incidence, and population density.