Efficacy of Purpureocillium lilacinum , Trichoderma harzianum and T. viride bio-formulations against Meloidogyne incognita

The root knot nematode, Meloidogyne incognita, is a sedentary endoparasitic plant pathogen with broad host range. It infects variety of crops and causes drastic annual crop yield losses worldwide. Its management is a major concern for sustainable crop production. In the present study, bio-formulations viz.., Purpureocillium lilacinum WP (1 × 108 CFU/g), P. lilacinum Liquid (1 × 109 CFU/ml), Trichoderma harzianum (WP) (2 × 106 CFU/g) and T. viride (WP) (2 × 106 CFU/g) along with chemical control Furadan 3G were evaluated for their comparative efficacy in suppressing egg hatching and causing juvenile mortality of M. incognita. All the bio-formulations showed certain degree of egg hatch suppression as well as juvenile mortality of M. incognita over untreated control when exposed to different concentrations over a period of time and their efficacy increased with increase in concentration and exposure period. Among all the bio-formulations, P. lilacinum (Liquid) formulation showed overall significantly more egg hatch inhibition (64.0%) and all other formulations were at par with each other. For juvenile mortality all the bio-formulations behaved significantly at par with each other however, P. lilacinum (Liquid) formulation showed comparatively more juvenile mortality.