Pochonia chlamydosporia controls Meloidogyne incognita on carrot

Abstract

The fungus Pochonia chlamydosporia var. chlamydosporia isolate Pc-10 (Pc-10) presents great potential for the management of root-knot nematodes on vegetable crops. However, there is no information about the use of Pc-10 on carrot. Thus, we evaluated in this study the effect of Pc-10 incorporated into the soil (PCI) or applied to the surface of the beds (PCS) on control of Meloidogyne incognita on carrot under field conditions, in comparison to an untreated control and the bionematicides Paecilomyces lilacinus + Bacillus subtilis (PLBS), mix of nematophagous fungi and Bacillus sp. (NFB) and P. lilacinus (PL). PCI increased the total and marketable production of carrot roots by 25.35 and 55.03 %, respectively. The production of unmarketable roots was reduced by about 50 % in plots treated with PCI, PCS and PLBS. All bionematicides reduced the number of unmarketable roots with galls, but only PCI reduced the reproduction factor of the nematode. The incorporation of Pc-10 in the soil of the beds controls M. incognita and improves carrot quality and yield.