Department of Nematology, College of Agriculture, O.U.A.T., Bhubaneswar-751 003, India
Online published on 24 March, 2017.
A replicated pot culture study was carried out to manage root-knot nematode, Meloidogyne incognita infecting okra through integration of fungal bio-agents (Trichoderma viride, Purpureocillium lilacinum, Pochonia chlamydosporia) and plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (Pseudomonas fluorescens) alone and in combinations as talc formulation pre-incubated with FYM. Apart from that, a known nematicide (carbofuran) was used as standard check. Bio-agents were found significantly effective in reducing the population of M. incognita and increasing the growth parameters of okra as compared to untreated check. Combined application of bio-agents gave better results than their individual counterpart with respect to both growth parameters of plant and management of nematodes. However, various treatments, T12 where seed treatment with T. viride + P. fluorescens, each @ 5 g/kg and soil application of P. lilacinum@ 2.5 kg at 15 days after sowing, exhibited the highest shoot length (93.0 cm), fresh weight of shoots (54.27g), fresh weight of roots (11.45g), dry weight of shoots (8.64g), dry weight of roots(3.79g) and total biomass yield (12.42g) with 95.2%, 96.8%, 90.2%, 89.4%, 98.2% and 92.0%, respectively increase over untreated check with corresponding decrease in galls (87.5%), egg mass (92.4%), no. of eggs/egg mass (63.8%) and nematode population in soil (83.9%) followed by seed treatment with T. viride + P. fluorescens, each @ 5 g/kg and soil application of P. chlamydosporia @ 2.5 kg 15 days after sowing. However, the study concluded that the combination of bio-agents (T. viride + P. fluorescens as seed treatment and soil application of P. lilacinum @ 2.5 kg at 15 days after sowing) were found more effective than a single bio-agent against M.incognita in okra.
Abelmoschus esculentus, Bio-agents, Meloidogyne incognita
