Yellow and purple nutsedge and coffee senna as hosts of common plant nematodes in Florida.

Yellow () and purple () nutsedges, and coffee senna () are common weeds in the southern USA and each have been reported as alternative hosts for plant-parasitic nematodes. Our objective was to determine the host suitability of these weeds to plant-parasitic nematodes common in Florida agriculture and turfgrass systems. The root-knot nematode (RKN) species tested included , , , , , , and . The host status of sting nematode, , was also evaluated, but only on the nutsedge species. All RKN species evaluated reproduced on both nutsedge species and had a reproductive factor greater than one, except for on yellow nutsedge. However, only , , and induced visual galls on yellow nutsedge and only caused galling on purple nutsedge. and reproduced at a greater rate on purple nutsedge than on yellow nutsedge. Both nutsedge species were good hosts to . Coffee senna was a host to , a poor host to , and nonhost to the other RKN species evaluated.