Efficacy of Paecilomyces lilacinus for the management of citrus nematode, Tylenchulus semipenetrans

Paecilomyces lilacinus is a soil-inhabiting fungus that has shown promising results for use as an effective biocontrol agent. P. lilacinus was evaluated for its efficacy for the management of Tylenchulus semipenetrans on citrus both under in vitro and in vivo conditions. The trials were conducted using various formulations of P. lilacinus-mycelialmat inoculation, conidial inoculation, mycelial mat+FYM, conidial inoculation + FYM and talc-formulation. The talc-formulation proved to be significantly most effective for the management of T. semipenetrans with 56.52% and 41.01% decrease in nematode population in vitro and in vivo, respectively after a period of 180 days of inoculation.