The effect of root-dip treatments on infestation of brinjal by Meloidogyne incognita

Abstract

The brinjal (Solanum melongena L.) is a crop vegetable of commercial importance in India. It is commonly infested with root-knot nematode, Meloidogyne incognita (Kofoid et White) Chitw. Attempts to control this and other nematodes on various crops have been made with oxamyl, dazomet and other chemicals, as bare root dips, foliar sprays and soil drenches. Trials with ten pesticide chemicals for the control of root-knot nematode on brinjal plants are reported here. The roots of 4 weeks old brinjal seedlings grown in sterilized soil were separately dipped in solutions of the pesticides (Table 1) and then planted in 22 cm pots each containing approximately 2.5 kg of root-knot nematode (M. incognita) infested soil. After 45 days the roots were examined and the degree of nematode infestation assessed. In another trials seedlings that had been grown in soil naturally infested with nematodes for 28 days were treated with pesticides, as in the first trials, but at higher concentrations, before transplanting to sterilized soil or to nematode-infested soil. At the time of treatment the seedlings contained larvae in different stages of development but no egg masses were present. The infested soil into which they were transplanted was prepared by mixing soil, farm yard manure and sand (3:2: 1 w/w) and adding finely chopped tomato roots heavily infested with root-knot nematodes egg masses. After 63 days the roots were examined (Table 1).