Evaluation of Pseudomonas fluorescens and Trichoderma viride as Seed and Soil Treatment against Root Knot Nematode, Meloidogyne arenaria Infecting Groundnut

Studies on evaluation of biocontrol agents against Meloidogyne arenaria on groundnut under glasshouse conditions revealed that application of Pseudomonas fluorescens as seed treatment+soil application recorded significant increase in plant growth characters and groundnut pod yield compared to untreated control. Groundnut plants treated with P. fluorescens as both seed treatment+soil application recorded least number of galls/plant, egg mass/plant, eggs/egg-mass and soil population/200 g soil with corresponding reduction of 70.9, 34.4, 20.3 and 68.1 per cent, respectively, over untreated control. It was followed by P. fluorescens as soil application alone and carbofuran in reducing the ischolar_main knot nematode infection in groundnut.