Ahmed Elhady

• Dr. rer. nat.
• PostDoc Position at Julius Kühn-Institut

Root‐lesion nematodes pose a global threat to crop yield and stability, with their broad host range presenting a formidable challenge for effective management. In this study, we investigated the role of the nematode‐attached bacterium Lysobacter capsici in mitigating the invasion of Pratylenchus penetrans into spring barley roots. Using a split‐roo...

Residual soils, residues from potato and beet processing, are one of the most important pathways for the spread of quarantine pests in potato and beet cultivation. In terms of plant quarantine, residual soils must be free from quarantine pests in order to be able to return them to agricultural habitats. Cyst nematodes, which are highly persistent t...

Plant-parasitic nematode research in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region faces significant challenges rooted in a need for proper assembly, diversity, and a unified and purpose-driven framework. This led to exacerbating their detrimental effects on crop production. This systematic review addresses the current situation and challenges tha...

Nematodes form various associations with soil microbiome. Experimental studies on nematode-attached microbes can improve mechanistic understanding of these associations and lead to new discoveries relevant for the field of nematode biocontrol. Microbial attachment to the surface of phytonematodes is very specific and influenced by a multitude of fa...

Root nodules of legume plants are primarily inhabited by rhizobial nitrogen-fixing bacteria. Here, we propose two new Rhizobiales species isolated from root nodules of common sainfoin (Onobrychis viciifolia), as shown by core-gene phylogeny, overall genome relatedness indices, and pan-genome ana lysis. Mesorhizobium onobrychidis sp. nov. actively i...

Plant-parasitic nematodes are one of the main biotic factors limiting agricultural production worldwide, with root-knot nematodes (Meloidogyne spp.) being the most damaging group. This study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of soil microbiomes, associated with various subtropical fruit trees, on the management of a Meloidogyne enterolobii pop...

Phytonematodes cause severe yield losses in horticulture, partly because they are difficult to manage. Compact, energy-efficient generators that electrochemically produce ozonated water by utilizing diamond-coated electrodes have become available. In this study, the application of on-site generated ozonated water to inactivate soil nematodes and to...

Harnessing plant-microbe interactions to advance crop resistance to pathogens could be a keystone in sustainable agriculture. The breeding of crops to maximize yield in intensive agriculture might have led to the loss of traits that are necessary for beneficial plant-soil feedback. In this study, we tested whether the soil microbiome can induce a s...

Root lesion nematodes, Pratylenchus penetrans, are major pests of legumes with little options for their control. We aimed to prime soybean cv. Primus seedlings to improve basic defense against these nematodes by root application of N-3-oxo-tetradecanoyl-L-homoserine lactone (oxo-C14-HSL). The invasion of soybean roots by P. penetrans was significan...

Plant-parasitic nematodes are a major constraint on agricultural production. They significantly impede crop yield. To complete their parasitism, they need to locate, disguise, and interact with plant signals exuded in the rhizosphere of the host plant. A specific subset of the soil microbiome can attach to the surface of nematodes in a specific man...

Plant-parasitic nematodes are a major constraint for agricultural production. They significantly impede crop yield. To complete their parasitism, they need to locate, disguise, and interact with plant signals exuded in the rhizosphere of the host plant. A specific subset of the soil microbiome can attach to the surface of nematodes in a specific ma...

Early maturing varieties of soybean have a high yield potential in Europe, where the main biotic threat to soybean cultivation are root lesion nematodes (Pratylenchus spp.). Nitrogen fixation in root nodules by highly efficient inoculants of Bradyrhizobium japonicum is an incentive to grow soybean in low-input rotation systems. We investigated dens...

Plant-parasitic nematodes are associated with specifically attached soil bacteria. To investigate these bacteria, we employed culture-dependent methods to isolate a representative set of strains from the cuticle of the infective stage (J2) of the root-knot nematode Meloidogyne hapla in different soils. The bacteria with the highest affinity to atta...

Enhanced resistance in barley (Hordeum vulgare) against pathogens, such as the powdery mildew-causing fungus Blumeria graminis f. sp. hordei, is of high importance. The beneficial effects of bacterial quorum sensing molecules on resistance and plant growth have been shown in different plant species. Here, we present the effects of the N-3-oxotetrad...

Soybean, Glycine max, is a relatively new crop in Europe gaining increasing interest for its potential to fix atmospheric nitrogen and thus increase sustainability of modern agricultural production systems. Under temperate conditions, root-lesion nematodes (Pratylenchus spp.) are one of the most prominent plant-parasitic nematode taxa of economic c...

Soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merrill] is the most economically important legume in the world. One of the main yield limiting factors is plant parasitic nematodes, such as Heterodera glycines, Meloidogyne incognita or Pratylenchus brachyurus, which cause severe damage in the main production regions of soybean around the world. For Germany, soybean is s...

Plant-parasitic nematodes cause considerable damage to crop plants. The rhizosphere microbiome can affect invasion and reproductive success of plant-parasitic nematodes, thus affecting plant damage. In this study, we investigated how the transplanted rhizosphere microbiome from different crops affect plant-parasitic nematodes on soybean or tomato,...

Endoparasitic root-knot (Meloidogyne spp.) and lesion (Pratylenchus spp.) nematodes cause considerable damage in agriculture. Before they invade roots to complete their life cycle, soil microbes can attach to their cuticle or surface coat and antagonize the nematode directly or by induction of host plant defenses. We investigated whether the nemato...

Endoparasitic root-knot (Meloidogyne spp.) and lesion (Pratylenchus spp.) nematodes cause considerable damage in agriculture. Before they invade roots to complete their life cycle, soil microbes can attach to their cuticle or surface coat and antagonize the nematode directly or by induction of host plant defenses. We investigated whether the nemato...

Bacterial communities of the seven horticultural soils analyzed. 16S rRNA fragments were amplified from total DNA of 0.5 gram soil and separated in DGGE. Differences between the bacterial soil fingerprints were statistically tested by a permutation test based on their pairwise Pearson correlations within and between soils. The back box shows the gl...

Fungal OTU associated with Meloidogyne incognita with significantly different abundance between the soils M10.23 and M10.56 (average ± SEM). Significance was inferred using a negative binomial regression and generalized linear model fit (nbGLM). A Likelihood ratio test was used, complemented with a post-hoc false discovery rate multiple correction...

Fungal communities associated with P. penetrans or M. incognita in seven horticultural soils. Fungal ITS1 fragments were amplified from total DNA of clean nematodes before and after incubation in soil suspensions and separated in DGGE. (PDF)

Bacterial communities associated with P. penetrans or M. incognita in seven horticultural soils. Bacterial 16S rRNA gene fragments were amplified from total DNA of clean nematodes before and after incubation in soil suspensions and separated in DGGE. (PDF)

Fungal communities of the seven horticultural soils analyzed. Fungal ITS1 fragments were amplified from total DNA of 0.5 gram soil and separated in DGGE. Differences between the fungal soil fingerprints were statistically tested by a permutation test based on their pairwise Pearson correlations within and between soils. The back box shows the globa...

Physicochemical properties and enzymatic activities of the soils in this study. (PDF)

Dominant fungal species significantly different between the two nematode species regardless of the soils (average ± SEM). Only species with a relative abundance > 0.1% are displayed. Significance was inferred using a negative binomial regression and generalized linear model fit (nbGLM). A Likelihood ratio test was used, complemented with a post-hoc...

Soybean is economically the most important legume in the world. One of the most yield limiting factors is plant-parasitic nematodes, especially in narrow rotations. Recent findings report that Pratylenchus spp. are widely spread in soybean fields in Germany and multiply well in the roots of this crop. However, it is not well studied which species o...