Biological Control of Meloidogyne incognita (kofoid and White 1919) Chitwood 1949 on Tomato by Verticillium chlamydosporium Goddard Cultured on Different Substrates

The efficacy of Verticillium chlamydosporium Goddard cultured on different substrates such as sorghum grain, rice grain, broken wheat, maize grain and wheat bran, was tested against meloidogyne incognita (Kofoid and White 1919) Chitwood 1949 with tomato cv. Pusa Ruby under potted condition. All the substrates favoured the multiplication of V. chlamydosporium and enabled the fungus to suppress the galls, egg masses and nematode population. The degree of suppression of nematode by V. chlamydosporium varied with the substrates used and the per cent parasitization of egg masses and eggs of M. incognita ranged between 39 to 70 and 51 to 89, respectively. Verticillium chlamydosporium cultured on sorghum grain applied @10glplant as well as Sglplant was found to be superior to other substrates in terms of parasitization of egg masses (70 and 89.3 %) and eggs (63 and 69 %), respectively. A significant increase in growth of tomato plants was observed with V. chlamydosporium treated plants.