Abstract
Root-knot nematodes possess a major threat to agricultural production of various crops worldwide. The intensive use of chemical nematicides to control plant parasitic nematodes has adverse effects on our environment and human health. Owing to the importance of developing new strategies, an experiment was conducted to reveal the influence of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus, Rhizoglomus fasciculatum and nematophagous fungus, Paecilomyces lilacinus alone or in combination with various organic amendments such as superphosphate, green and organic manure to control the infection of root-knot, nematode Meloidogyne incognita in a vegetable crop Capsicum annuum. These two fungi along with soil amendments significantly improved plant growth and fruit yield and effectively controlled infection of M. incognita. The dual inoculation of P. lilacinus and R. fasciculatum reduced the number of galls and egg masses, thereby revealing the controlled proliferation of M. incognita infection in C. annuum roots. The beneficial effect of these fungi further increased on supplementation of soil with organic or green manures. Inoculation of C. annuum with these two fungi showed a significant increase in egg parasitization; however, maximum effect was detected on dual inoculation. Amongst the soil amendments, the best response was obtained in case of green manure along with mycorrhizal fungus and P. lilacinus. Present study revealed that nematophagous and AM fungi, in combination with green manure were effective in controlling M. incognita, thus suggesting the use of such agents for biocontrol of plant parasitic nematodes in agriculture.