Department of Nematology, Centre for Plant Protection Studies, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore-641 003, India.
An isolate of Paecilomyces lilacinus (Strain PL-Nilgiris) parasitized the eggs of Meloidogyne incognita (race 3) by 48.3% in vitro and caused egg necrosis. The infected eggs became vacuolated and filled with fungal hyphae. Two pot culture trials in chilli as seedling bare root-dip treatment of P. lilacinus were conducted under glass house condition to evaluate the biocontrol potential of the fungus against M. incognita. All the P. lilacinus treated chilli plants showed significant difference in shoot weight and root weight when compared to the untreated control. Seedling root-dip treatment of chilli in fungal suspension containing 8 x 106 spores/ml (PL-High) reduced gall formation of M. incognita by 47.9%. The egg masses under PL-High were colonized by the fungus to an extent of 61.7% and parasitization of eggs were 42.2%. The fungus, introduced through bare root-dip, established and multiplied fast in soil, which was evident from the colony forming units (cfu's) of the fungus reisolation from the inoculated soil. P. lilacinus (PL-Nilgiris) profusely colonized the roots of chilli plants under glasshouse conditions.
