Egg Parasitic Fungus, Engyodontium aranearum with other Biocontrol Agents, Organic Amendment and Carbofuran for the Management of Meloidogyne incognita on Tomato

Introduction India's diverse climate ensures availability of all varieties of fresh fruits and vegetables. It ranks second in vegetables production in the world, after China. India produced 146.554 million metric tonnes of vegetable from 8.495 million hectares. Tomato is the world’s largest and important commercial vegetable grown in tropical and subtropical areas for its fleshy fruits, taste and nutritive value. It is a short duration crop and gives high yield. In India, tomato occupies second position amongst the vegetable crops in terms of production. Total production of tomato in the country was 17.4 mt from an area of 0.87 mha (http://www.dacnet.nic.in). In Tamil Nadu, tomato occupies an area of 0.02 mha with production of 0.29 mt (http://www. tn.gov.in). Tomato is affected adversely by several pests, diseases and nematodes, which result in heavy yield losses. Plant parasitic nematodes are the major pests of agriculture throughout the world, which cause 12.3 per cent yield losses (Sassar and Freckman, 1987) with a global economic impact of more than $125 billion annually worldwide (Chitwood, 2003). Among crop plants, vegetables are highly susceptible to root knot nematodes. The southern root knot nematode, Meloidogyne International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 6 Number 5 (2017) pp. 29-37 Journal homepage: http://www.ijcmas.com The effect of Engyodontium aranearum, a nematode egg parasitic fungus, alone and along with other biocontrol agents, organic amendment and carbofuran was evaluated in pot culture infested with Meloidogyne incognita on tomato under pot and field condition for two seasons. Plant growth parameters, fruit yield, root population and final nematode population were determined at harvest. The results revealed that all the treatments were effective in increasing the plant growth with significant reductions in nematode populations. Among the treatments, the combined soil application of E. aranearum with P. flouroscens each at 2.5 kg/ha increased the tomato yield by 55.68 per cent under pot culture conditions and 41.62 per cent under field conditions. The soil nematode population was decreased by 54.74 per cent under pot culture and 60.75 under field conditions. There was also significant reduction in nematode population in roots. K e y w o r d s Engyodontium aranearum, Biocontrol agents, P. flouroscens, Root knot nematode, Meloidogyne incognita, Tomato. Accepted: 04 April 2017 Available Online: 10 May 2017 Article Info Int.J.Curr.Microbiol.App.Sci (2017) 6(5): 29-37 30 incognita is one of the major constraints in the production of tomato in tropical and subtropical regions. In India, the annual losses caused by root knot nematode, M. incognita are 27.2 per cent in tomato (Jain et al., 2007). Present strategies for nematode management largely depend on cultural practices, use of resistant varieties and chemical applications often in combinations (Hague and Gowen, 1987). A large number of beneficial organisms including fungi, bacteria, viruses and predatory nematodes have been found to parasitize the infective juveniles, female and eggs of root knot and cyst nematodes (Stirling, 1991). The egg parasitic fungi, Pochonia chlamydosporia and Paecilomyces lilaciuns have been associated with soils which suppress the multiplication of cyst nematode populations (Kerry et al., 1993). The egg parasitic fungus, Engyodontium aranearum parasitization of the potato cyst nematodes was first reported from The Nilgiris (Muthulakshmi, 2011). Hence, the present investigation was under taken with Egg parasitic fungus, Engyodontium aranearum alone and with other biocontrol agents, organic amendment and carbofuran in tomato under pot and field conditions to assess the effectiveness against Meloidogyne incognita. Materials and Methods The compatibility of E. aranearum with other biocontrol agents viz., Trichoderma viride, P. lilacinus, Pseudomonas fluorescens and organic amendment, neem cake and carbofuran was studied under pot culture and field conditions. Soil application of E. aranearum against M. incognita was carried out under pot culture conditions in tomato. Tomato seeds (cv. Co 3) were sown in pots and maintained for 25 days. After that seedlings were transplanted in pots containing pot mixture. The tomato plants were inoculated @ one J2/g of soil on 15 days after transplanting. The experiment was conducted under glasshouse conditions in a completely randomized design (CRD) with the following treatments which were replicated three times. 1 – E. aranearum @ 2.5 kg/ha 2– E. aranearum @ 2.5 kg/ha + P. lilacinus @ 2.5 kg/ha 3 – E. aranearum @ 2.5 kg/ha + T. viride @ 2.5 kg/ha 4 E. aranearum @ 2.5 kg/ha + P. fluorscens @ 2.5 kg/ha 5E. aranearum @ 2.5 kg/ha + Neem cake (250kg/ha) 6 E. aranearum @ 2.5 kg/ha + Carbofuran 3G @ 1 kg a.i./ha 7 – Control Two field experiments were conducted in nematode sick field of Madhampatti and Karadimadai village, Coimbatore district, Tamil Nadu to evaluate E. aranearum formulation against M. incognita in tomato (cv. Co3) and in bhendi (Mahyco hybrid No. 10) respectively. The experiment was conducted in a randomized block design (RBD) with treatments and replications similar to glasshouse experiment. Plant growth parameters viz., shoot length, shoot weight, root length, root weight and yield were observed at after harvest. The observations on soil and root population of root knot nematode, number of females/5 g root, number of egg masses/5g root and root knot index were recorded at after harvest. The data from the experiments were subjected to statistical analysis. The treatment means were compared by Duncan’s Multiple Range Test (DMRT) (Gomez and Gomez, 1984). The package used for analysis was IRRISTAT version 92-1 by International Rice Int.J.Curr.Microbiol.App.Sci (2017) 6(5): 29-37 31 Research Institute, Biometrics Unit, Philippines. Results and Discussion Pot culture experiment In tomato, E. aranearum significantly improved plant growth parameters when applied either alone or in combination with other biocontrol agents, organic amendments and carbofuran. The highest shoot length (66.39 cm), root length (17.62cm), shoot weight (22.67g), root weight (13.48g) and yield (628.37 g/plant) were recorded in plants treated with E. aranearum (2.5kg/ha) +P. fluorescens (2.5 kg/ha) compared to 40.47cm, 10.54cm, 12.98g, 7.85g and 403.62 g/plant, shoot length, root length, shoot weight, root weight and yield respectively in untreated control (Table 1). There was a significant decrease in no. of females, number of egg masses, root knot index, root population and soil population in both the combined and individual treatments compared to untreated control. The combined application of E. aranearum (2.5 kg/ha) + P. fluorescens (2.5 kg/ha) reduced the number of females and number of egg masses by 51.53 and 61.33 per cent over control. There was also 52.00 and 54.74 percent reduction in the nematode population in roots and soil (Table 2). These findings were in agreement with the egg parasitic fungus, P. lilacinus in combination with V. chlamydosporium significantly increased the length and weight of root and shoot and reduced root galling in okra plant (Sobita Simon and Avinash Pandey, 2010). Kumar and Prabhu (2008) reported that combined application of T. harzianum + P. chlamydosporia significantly reduced the cyst nematode H. cajani population in pigeon pea. Latha and Narashimhan (2001) reported that seed treatment with combination of P. fluorescens, T. viride and P. lilacinus reduced the infestation of M. phaseolina and H. cajani complex in black gram.