Isolation, Identification, and Evaluation of the Predatory Activity of Chinese Species towards Economically Important Plant-Parasitic Nematodes.

The current investigation aimed to isolate and identify predatory fungal strains and evaluate their efficacy in mitigating the effects of plant-parasitic nematodes. We successfully isolated three distinct nematophagous fungal strains from soil samples, identified as , , and , using conventional and molecular identification methodologies. In vitro trials illustrated the high capture efficiency of these fungi against plant-parasitic nematodes. Over an exposure period of 48 h to , , and , (GUCC220044) displayed predation rates of 99.7%, 83.0%, and 21.1%, respectively. (GUCC220045) demonstrated predation rates of 97.3%, 97.3%, and 54.6%, and (GUCC220046) showed rates of 85.1%, 68.3%, and 19.0% against the same cohort of nematodes. The experimental outcomes substantiate that all three identified fungal strains demonstrate predatory activity against the tested nematodes, albeit with varying efficiencies.