STUDIES ON THE EFFICACY OF NEEM AND FUNGAL ISOLATES ON MELOIDOGYNE INCOGNITA INFESTING SOLANUM MELONGENA L.

Abstract

A study was conducted under pot conditions to testify the efficacy of neem seed powder; neem leaf powder and 2 fungal isolates, Trichoderma harzianum and T. glaucum to estimate pathogenicity of M. incognita infesting Solanum melongena. The freshly hatched second stage juveniles (J2) inoculated @ 2000J2/pot and neem seed powder, neem leaves powder and fungal isolates T. harzianum and T. glaucum, were applied @ 0.2%. The observations of the study revealed that the infested brinjal plants showed maximum root gall formation and decrease in root and shoot length as well as their fresh and dry weight with the increase in levels of infestations as compared to control. It was also observed that the brinjal plants amended with neem seed powder separately and with a combination of neem seed powder and T. harzianum showed better growth and significant reduction in gall formation (54.19% & 49.36%
respectively) over untreated inoculated plants.