Abstract
Meloidogyne chitwoodi causes significant yield losses in many crops and the chemical control measures currently used are less effective for this nematode. The activity of aqueous extracts (0.8 mg/mL) of one-month-old (R1M) and two-months-old roots and immature fruits (F) of Solanum linnaeanum (Sl) and S. sisymbriifolium cv. Sis 6001 (Ss) were tested on hatching, mortality, infectivity and reproduction of M. chitwoodi. The extracts selected reduced the hatching of second-stage juveniles (J2) (cumulative hatching of 40% for Sl R1M and 24% for Ss F) but did not affect J2 mortality. However, infectivity of J2 exposed to the selected extracts, during 4 and 7 days, was lower (3% and 0% for Sl R1M and 0% and 0% for Ss F) compared to the control (23% and 3%). Reproduction was affected only after 7 days of exposure (reproduction factor (RF) was 7 for Sl R1M and 3 for Ss F) compared to the control (RF = 11). The results suggest that the selected Solanum extracts are effective and can be a useful tool in sustainable M. chitwoodi management. This is the first report on the efficacy of S. linnaeanum and S. sisymbriifolium extracts against root-knot nematodes.