Use of weed plants against Meloidogyne incognita in spinach involves reduction of gall disease from roots

Abstract

In the present study, weed plants viz., Calotropis procera, Ricinus communis, Lantana camara, Achyranthes aspera, Wedelia chinensis, and Colocasia esculenta were evaluated against Meloidogyne incognita affecting spinach. For in vitro egg masses hatching experiment, four different concentrations of aqueous extracts of weed leaves, i.e. 100%, 50%, 10%, and 1%, were analyzed. All the extracts showed varied but significant results over control (Distilled water). Furthermore, C. procera and R. communis treatment significantly inhibited J2s hatching (100% inhibition) at the 4th and 7th days of incubation in 100% concentration, while C. esculenta inhibited the least. In pot study, it was also found that the pots treated with 50 and 100 g dry leaf powder of C. procera has efficiently suppressed the root-knot disease in spinach and significantly increased growth in terms of length, fresh and dry weights, number of leaves and biochemical parameters such as chlorophyll, carotenoid content and nitrate reductase activity followed by A. aspera, L. camara, R. communis, W. chinensis while C. esculenta showed the least effect amongst the treatments. Thus, the results provide considerable data for the use of weed plants to manage the root-gall disease in spinach.

Keywords

• meloidogyne incognita
• root-knot disease
• weed plants
• hatching
• spinacia oleracea