Reaction of eggplant cultivars and Solanum species to Meloidogyne incognita

Abstract

Sixtysix cultivars of eggplant (Solanum melongena L.) and five Solanum species were tested for their reaction to Meloidogyne incognita (Kofoid et White) Chitw. Two seedlings of each were grown in 15 cm diameter clay pots (4 per treatment) containing 500 g of a 3: 1 mixture of autoclaved soil and farm yard manure. Twentyone days after planting the seedlings, each pot was inoculated with 500 freshly hatched larvae of M. incognita. After a further 40 days the experiment was discontinued and each plant was indexed for root galling on 1 to 5 scale. Only two of the treatments, S. melongena L. cv. Black Beauty and S. sisymbrifolium Lam. were free from galls and are considered to be highly resistant. The cultivar Giant of Banaras and the wild Solanum species viz., S. indicum L. and S. khasianum Clarke had few galls and are considered to be moderately resistant to M. incognita. The vast variety of the cultivars tested were susceptible.