Use of Pochonia chlamydosporia to control Meloidogyne javanica in cucumber

Abstract

This study was done to evaluate the effect of the bionematicide Pc-10, based on Pochonia chlamydosporia var. chlamydosporia, on the control of Meloidogyne javanica. The fungus was applied by two methods: (1) drenching the substrate of seedlings with an aqueous suspension of Pc-10 (0, 4.5, 9.0, 13.5 and 18.0 g/L), or (2) incorporating Pc-10 into the soil of potted plants at a rate of 5000 chlamydospores/g of soil. The soil of each pot was infested with 3000 eggs of M. javanica, and one cucumber seedling was transplanted to each pot after 1 week. Increasing the doses of Pc-10 in the seedlings reduced the numbers of galls/g and eggs/g in the roots of cucumber plants in both experiments, regardless of the application method of the fungus in the soil. The application of 18 g/L of Pc-10 in the seedlings reduced the number of galls/g of roots by 46.04% and 49.44%, and the number of eggs/g of roots by 48.32% and 40.58% in the first and second experiments, respectively. Soil application of Pc-10 reduced the number of eggs/g of roots by 19.42% in the first experiment only. Drenching the substrate of seedlings with Pc-10 at 18 g/L controls M. javanica in cucumber and does not require additional fungus application in the soil.