Comparative efficacy of bioagents as seed treatment for management of Meloidogyne incognita infecting okra

Abstract

A pot experiment was undertaken to evaluate different fungal and bacterial antagonists as seed coating treatments against the root-knot nematode, Meloidogyne incognita, infecting okra. The seeds of okra cv. A-4 were treated with Trichoderma harzianum, Trichoderma viride, Pochonia chlamydosporia, Paecilomyces lilacinus and Pseudomonas fluorescens at 20 g/kg seed. Carbosulfan 25 (DS) at 3% (w/w) was used as a treated control. The treated seeds were sown in soil infested with two second stage juveniles of root-knot nematode/g soil. Sixty days after sowing, the growth of okra plants was greater and the root-knot nematode population was reduced in all treatments compared to the untreated control.