Full Length Research Paper

Biological control of root-knot nematode; Meloidogyne incognita in the medicinal plant; Withania somnifera and the effect of biocontrol agents on plant growth

Poornima Sharma¹* and Rakesh Pandey²

¹Department of Microbiology, School of Life Sciences, Devi Ahilya University, Indore- 452 017, India.

²Division of Nematology, Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (CIMAP-CSIR), Lucknow-226015, India.

*Corresponding author. E-mail: poornima.sharma@rediffmail.com .

Accepted 11 June, 2009

   Abstract

The medicinally important plant; Withania somnifera, is highly susceptible to root knot nematode; Meloidogyne incognita. Various nematode antagonistic fungi have been studied for their use as biocontrol agents. In the experiment, the potential of fungi Trichoderma harzianum, Paecilomyces lilacinus and Arthrobotrys oligospora along with natural organic compound (Neem compound mix) to control the nematode; M. incognita was evaluated.  Also, their potential to control nematodes was compared with that achieved by using the  chemical control agent; carbofuran. The fungal agents evaluated significantly controlled nematode population and  enhanced  plant growth.

Key words: Withania somnifera, Meloidogyne incognita, biocontrol.