Failure of an attempt to eradicate southern sting nematode () from the Brisbane Cricket Ground (the Gabba).

When the Grand Final of the Australian Football League (AFL) was played at the Brisbane Cricket Ground (the Gabba) in October 2020, small rolls of turf from Victoria were laid at the three player entrances. This turf was infested with southern sting nematode () and so it was removed, the infested sites were fumigated, and nematicides were applied in an attempt to eliminate the nematode. Results published in September 2021 indicated that this appeared to have been successful, as was not detected in a post-treatment monitoring program.

Plant-parasitic nematodes on turfgrass in Queensland, Australia, and biosecurity issues associated with the interstate transfer and eradication of southern sting nematode ().

Southern sting nematode (), by far the most damaging nematode pest of turfgrass in Australia, was first reported from the Newcastle area of New South Wales in 1979 and is now widely distributed in the Central Coast region of NSW; is causing severe damage to sportsgrounds in Perth, Western Australia; and has been reported from a few locations in other states. This paper reports a recent example of interstate transfer, as small rolls of turf transferred from a turf nursery in Victoria to the Brisbane Cricket Ground (the Gabba) for the Australian Football League Grand Final in October 2020 were found to be infested with . Despite this transfer, evidence is provided to suggest that Queensland should be considered provisionally free of .

The Mesostigmatid Mite , an Effective Predator of Free-Living and Plant-Parasitic Nematodes.

was extracted from a sugarcane field in Australia and cultured on bacterial-feeding nematodes. Studies with various nematodes in laboratory arenas showed that one mite and its progeny reduced nematode numbers by between 26 and 50 nematodes/day. A bacterivore ( sp.

Factors associated with the suppressiveness of sugarcane soils to plant-parasitic nematodes.

Observations in three Australian sugarcane fields suggested that the soil just under the trash blanket (the covering of crop residue that remains on the soil surface after crops are harvested) was suppressive to plant-parasitic nematodes. Roots were concentrated in this upper layer of soil but plant-parasitic nematode populations were relatively low and roots showed few signs of nematode damage. Root biomass was much lower 15 cm further down the soil profile, where root health was poor and populations of plant-parasitic nematodes were 3-5 times higher than near the soil surface.

Stenotrophomonas and Lysobacter: ubiquitous plant-associated gamma-proteobacteria of developing significance in applied microbiology.

The exploration of new source materials and the use of alternative isolation and identification methods have led to rapid expansion in the knowledge of diversity; in Lysobacter, 11 new species having been described since 2005, and in Stenotrophomonas with six new species since 2000. The new species of Lysobacter, isolated by dilution and direct plating on standard media, differ in several key phenotypic properties from those obtained by enrichment on complex polysaccharides in the original description of the genus. Revision of the definition of the genus will be required.