Role of soil fungi on wilt incidence and Meloidogyne incognita on Tomato

A survey of tomato crop in Faridabad and adjoining areas (Haryana state) showed wilted and low wilted plants. After careful isolation, wilt fungus (pathogenic) was identified as Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici and root knot nematode, Meloidogyne incognita. Plants infected with both fungus and root knot nematode showed high wilt incidence under field condition. From rhizospheric soil, other fungal species such as Aspergillus niger, A. fumigatus, Cladosporium oxysporum, Penicillium citrinum, Paecilomyces lilacinus and Trichoderma viride were also isolated and tested in vitro for larvicidal and egg hatching of M. incognita. Results revealed that A. niger caused 100% mortality of J₂ after 48 hrs. followed by A. fumigatus after 72 hrs and T. viride after 98 hrs of exposure period. However, egg parasitizing fungus, P. lilacinus and C. oxysporum showed more than 40% mortality after 48 hrs of exposure. As regards the hatching from eggmasses, minimum hatching was observed in fungal filtrate of A. fumigatus as compared to control.