Management of root knot nematode meloidogyne incognita by plant growth promoting rhizobacteria on tomato

This study was planned to assess the efficacy of plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (pgpr) against meloidogyne incognita infection on roots of tomato (lycopersicon esculentum mill.) in the green house at 30 + 4 o c. fifteen-days-old seedlings of tomato cultivar money maker were planted singly in 15-cm-diam pots filled with sterilized sandy soil. two days after transplanting,20-ml of 5% sugar solution containing 107 cfu/ml each of bacillus spp.,azotobacter spp.,pseudomonas putida and p. fluorescens,were pipetted into three 3-cm deep holes surrounding the root zone of each plant. five days after the application of pgpr,freshly hatched 2000 j2 were applied at root zone. the experiment consisted of seven treatments; each with seven replicates and arranged in crd. pots with nematodes,without nematodes,and pgpr were kept as control for comparison. sixty days after inoculations,data of plant growth parameters such as plant height,fresh and dry root and shoot weight and nematode reproduction in term of egg masses per root system,galls per root system,j2/one gm of root and females per root system were recorded. the plants treated with p. fluorescens significantly (p = 0.05) suppressed females per root system (40.52%),j2/one gm of root (39.80%),galls per root system (41.50%) and egg masses per root system (43.23%) resulting in improved growth over control plants. the treatments having p. putida,bacillus spp. and combination of pgpr showed intermediary effects on both nematode reproduction and plant growth. azobacter spp. was least effective in suppressing only 28.10%,15.87%,29.38%,29.29% females per root system,j2 per gm of root,galls per root system and egg masses per root system,respectively. © 2011 zoological society of pakistan.