Guava root-knot nematode (Meloidogyne enterolobii) is a new and hypervirulent pest in the Southeast United States. It infects the roots of many crop plants, making many agronomic control practices such as crop rotation difficult. Genetic resistance is the preferred method of control, but the guava root-knot nematode easily overcomes the resistance genes to other root-knot nematode species. With our collaborator, Dr. William Rutter at the Vegetable Research Center in Charleston, SC, we found a single source of resistance in a wild chile pepper accession.
