The application of the nematophagous fungus
Pochonia chlamydosporia
var.
chlamydosporia (Goddard) Zare & W. Gams
during seedling production of vegetable crops can be an efficient approach to control root-knot nematode. The aim of this
study was to evaluate the effect of treating seedlings and/or soil with bionematicide (wettable powder formulation) based
on chlamydospores from isolate Pc-10 on the
Meloidogyne javanica
(Treub, 1885) control in lettuce (
Lactuca sativa
L.).
Isolate Pc-10 was diluted in water and applied when watering the seedlings (0, 4.5, 9.0, 13.5, and 18.0 g L
-1) and/or to the
potted soil (5000 chlamydospores g
-1) used for growing lettuce. The soil in each pot was infested with 3000
M. javanica
eggs. The number of
M. javanica eggs was reduced in lettuce roots when isolate Pc-10 was applied either to seedlings or
soil; there was no interaction between application methods. The decrease in the number of eggs was proportional to the
increase of isolate Pc-10 applied to seedlings with maximum reduction of 43.5% at the 18 g L
-1 dose. When the fungus
was applied to the soil, the number of eggs was reduced by 12.3%. Increasing doses of isolate Pc-10 reduced the number
of galls up to 21% with the 18 g L
-1 dose. Applying bionematicide based on
P. chlamydosporia isolate Pc-10 at 18 g L
-1 on
seedlings controls M. javanica in lettuce.
