Nematicidal Activity of Vetiver Essential Oil and Its Fractions Against Meloidogyne incognita

In vitro studies were conducted on nematicidal efficacy of vetiver oil and its fractions against Meloidogyne incognita for egg hatching and mortality of second stage juveniles (J2s) at different concentrations and durations. Vetiver essential oil was partitioned into its non-polar and polar soluble fractions via column chromatography over silica gel. Among the three evaluated, vetiver oil was found to be more effective and more than 50 per cent egg hatch inhibition was observed at lowest concentration of 2 mg/ml, while polar and non-polar fractions showed 50 per cent inhibition at 4 and 6 mg/ml, respectively. Studies conducted on mortality of J2s of M. incognita also revealed that vetiver oil was most active out of the three evaluated. More than 50 per cent mortality was observed at lowest concentration of 0.1 mg/ml in vetiver oil as compared to non-polar (4.0 mg/ml) and polar fractions (1.0 mg/ml).