Nematicidal activity of Citrullus colocynthis extracts against root-knot nematodes

The nematicidal activity of citrullus colocynthis seed, pulp, fruit and creeper extracts were evaluated against rootknot nematodes (meloidogyne spp.) at 28 ± 2
˚c in laboratory. gas chromatograph interfaced to a mass spectrometer (gc-ms) results indicated that c. colocynthis contains various bioactive compounds. the mentholic extracts of seed had the highest mortality (100%) at highest exposure time (72 hrs) while, the pulp and fruit extracts showed 60 and 80% mortality, respectively. among various extracts of creeper hexane extract (hh-cc) showed 100% mortality after 72 hrs at all concentrations as compared with standard carbofuran. whereas, he-cc and hwcc showed 100% mortality only at highest concentrations after 72 hrs. ethyl acetate fraction was most active at highest concentrations causing 60% nematode mortality after 72 hrs. however, aqueous fraction (1 and 0.5) showed 40% mortality after 72 hrs exposure.