Preliminary evaluation of the management of Meloidogyne incognita using biodegradable and synthetic matrices for carbofuran formulations

The effect of controlled release carbofuran formulations was investigated against root-knot nematode, Meloidogyne incognita in two soil types. The results revealed that all the applied formulations in both soils significantly reduced root galling as compared to the untreated check. Among starch-based formulations, starch urea borate (SUB) showed maximum reduction in number of galls followed by starch urea formaldehyde (SUF) and starch borate (SB). In case of PVC-based formulations, foamed plastic (FP) exerted the highest reduction followed by expanded plastic (EP) and non expanded plastic (NEP). However, the nematicidal efficiency of FP was significantly at par with either EP or NEP particularly in the case of clay loam soil. Addition of sawdust at 20% in the composition of PVC formulations, significantly increased the efficacy for controlling, M. incognita especially in the case of FP and NEP when applied in sandy clay loam soil, rather than clay loam soil. All the formulations at the selected concentration (10 mg a.i./kg soil) had no phytotoxic effect on tomato plants. FP and FP + 20% SD of carbofuran formulations have shown to be more effective than its conventional formulation (10G) against M. incognita in clay loam soil. On the other hand, SUB and FP + 20% SD formulations were higher in their effectiveness than the traditional one in sandy clay loam soil.