Efficacy of Pasteuria penetrans (ex Thorne) Sayre & Starr as seed treatment in controlling Meloidogyne javanica (Treub) Chitwood on three succeeding crops

The bacterial parasite, Pasteuria penetrans (ex Thorne) Sayre & Starr was tested as seed treatment against Meloidogyne javanica (Treub) Chitwood in okra-cowpea-chickpea sequence. In the first crop of okra, yield increase was not significant, but 21 per cent of the juvenile population at the end of the crop carried bacterial infection to the second crop. Yield differences became evident from the second crop of cowpea, which also left 46.5 per cent less juvenile population and the incidence of bacterium increased to 29 per cent. In the third crop of chickpea, besides 52.6 per cent increase in yield, a population reduction of 57.7 per cent was recorded, 50 per cent of which carried bacterial infection.