Effect of Steinernema glaseri and Heterorhabditis indica on the plant vigour and root knot nematodes in tomato roots at different densities and time of applications

Steinernema glaseri and heterorhabditis indica applied at different inoculum levels before and simultaneously with root knot nematodes were investigated for invasion of meloidogyne spp. in tomato. suppression of m. incognita varied with application rate of s. glaseri,and h. indica the high application rates of,s. glaseri and h. indica applied both same and before reduced invasion of m. incognita. the low rate of s. glaseri and h. indica were not as effective as high rates. both entomopathogenic nematodes when applied at 1250 and 2500/pot 24 h before or at the same time reduced the invasion of root knot nematodes in tomato root. whereas s. glaseri applied at 500/pot at the same time with the root-knot nematodes reduced the invasion. both the entomopathogenic nematodes (epn) applied 24 h before or at the same time with root knot nematodes at 2500/pot reduced the invasion as compared with 500/pot. only h. indica significantly reduced invasion when it was applied at 1250/pot 24 h before the root knot nematodes. whereas s. glaseri applied at the same time and h. indica 24 h before at 2500/pot significantly reduced the invasion as compared with 1250/pot. s. glaseri was more effective in reducing the invasion as compared to h. indica. recovery of both the entomopathogenic nematodes when they were applied alone was comparatively more than when applied with the root knot nematodes. but in case of h. indica its recovery was more when it was applied at the same time with the m. javanica. © 2012 zoological society of pakistan.