Effect of Plant Leaf Ash on the Control of Meloidogyne incognita in Soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merrill.)

A study was carried out to determine the nematicidal effect of plant leaf ash of Icorina lotufolia, Uvaria kerniyae Beav, Cymbopogon citratus Stapt, Tetrapleura tetraptera and Azadirachita indica A. Juss. for the control of root-knot nematode (Meloidogyne incoginta) in soybean (TGX 1802-IF) in a pot experiment. The experiment was laid out in a completely randomized design (CRD) with seven treatments) each replicated four times. Statistical analysis showed that the treatments significantly (Ps0.05) reduced nematode population in the soil and root as compared with the non-treated plants. All the treatments except Azadirachita indica ash significantly (Ps0.05) reduced the number of galls over the control, whereas there was no significant (P>0.05) effect on nodule numbers. The treatments significantly (Ps0.05) increased growth and yield parameters over the untreated control. However, the treatments did not significantly (P>0.05) differ in all cases over the control in growth parameters. The leaf ash of the test plants could therefore be harnessed as a source of nematicide of plant origin to manage the problem of plant-parasitic nematodes in soybean production.