Abstract
Roses continue to be one of the most popular flowers in the garden landscape and have pharmaceutical uses. In Taif, cultivation of Taify rose creates more income than the cultivation of vegetables or crops. In Saudi Arabia, nematodes are becoming a real threat to almost all crops and they have been considered as limiting factors in crop production. There is no information on the nematode communities infecting rose plants and its pathogenicity at present. In this study, the distribution of nematodes infecting roses and the pathogenicity of the most important nematode species on rose cultivars were investigated at Taif governorate. Results indicated the presence of seven genera of plant parasitic nematodes, belonging to 7 families in soil samples collected from three localities of rose farms. Among soil samples collected from the three localities, the plant parasitic nematode genera, Meloidogyne, Rotylenchulus, Xiphinema and Pratylenchus seemed to be the most prevailing pests. None of the three tested rose cultivars was immune to M. incognita infection. Sultany cultivar can be classified as resistant host, whereas Taify rose was rated as susceptible host and Gory cultivar as tolerant one.