Int.J.Curr.Microbiol.App.Sci (2017) 6(10): 1648-1656 1648 Original Research Article https://doi.org/10.20546/ijcmas.2017.610.199 Study on Relative Preferences of Foliar Nematode, Aphelenchoides besseyi Christie between Rice and Tuberose on Biochemical Factors Nagulapalli Sneha Latha * , Ajoy Kumar Mukhopadhyay, Nagamandla Ramya Sri, Nihal Ravindranath and Dhiren Chatterjee Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidhyalaya, Faculty of agriculture, Mohanpur, Nadia, West Bengal, 741252, India *Corresponding author ABSTRACT Introduction Among the ornamental bulbous plants, “Tuberose (Polianthes tuberosa)” popularly known as “Rajanigandha” which is valued much by the aesthetic world for beauty and fragrance of their flowers, elegance and sweet pleasant for cut-flower trade and essential oil industry. They are used for artistic garlands, floral ornaments, bouquets and buttonholes. The long flower spikes are excellent as cut flowers for table, stripes leaf margins is very attractive and suitable for the beautification of gardens. The flower possesses aromatic oil which is the source of its delightful fragrance. The natural flower oil of tuberose remains today one of the most expensive of the perfumer‟s raw materials. Tuberose is a quite hardy plant, although many pests were recorded feeding in these flower crops. Among these pests, one of the most important pest was recorded is Aphelenchoides besseyi (Foliar nematode). The foliar nematode, Aphelenchoides besseyi was first time reported from leaves of tuberose in the Hawaii Island by Holtzmann (1968) known to cause „Floral malady‟. Market value of flower is highly reduced due to reduction of International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 6 Number 10 (2017) pp. 1648-1656 Journal homepage: http://www.ijcmas.com From early 90s we have been observing that Aphelenchoides besseyi also, to affect tuberose badly in West Bengal as well as in other tuberose growing adjacent states. Interestingly, in most of the cases where tuberose is grown side by side or in sequence with rice, manifestation of symptoms is seen only in tuberose but not in rice. This made us curious to search the reasons behind, comparative preference of nematodes towards tuberose. We decided to go for biochemical analysis of both the plants. The experiment was carried out in the field from 2016 - 2017 at Central research farm of B.C.KV, Gayeshpur, W.B and Laboratory experiment done at college of agriculture at B.C.K.V, Mohanpur. Results of this experiment showed that, total protein, carbohydrate contents were found to be higher and silicon content was found to be lower in Tuberose when compared to rice, as protein and carbohydrate are essential for the nematode for its growth and development. Silicon helps to strengthen cells of rice leaf, stem, and roots. Silicon confers resistance to herbivores via physical and biochemical. Therefore, differential contents of these facets could have been a strong reason behind the inclination of preference to tuberose by the foliar nematodes. Keywords Aphelenchoides besseyi, Foliar nematodes, Comparative preference, Protein, carbohydrate, Silicon. Accepted: 14 September 2017 Available Online: 10 October 2017 Article Info