Skip to main content

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Agron.
Sec. Disease Management
Volume 6 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fagro.2024.1462323

Efficacy of microbiological nematicides in controlling root-knot nematodes in tomato

Provisionally accepted
Karoline B. Pontes Karoline B. Pontes 1Andressa Machado Andressa Machado 2Alison F. Nogueira Alison F. Nogueira 1Daniel F. Fagundes Daniel F. Fagundes 1Renato B. Lima Filho Renato B. Lima Filho 3Mirela Mosela Mirela Mosela 1Silas Mian Silas Mian 1Débora C. Santiago Débora C. Santiago 1Leandro S. Gonçalves Leandro S. Gonçalves 1,3*
  • 1 State University of Londrina, Londrina, Brazil
  • 2 Instituto de Desenvolvimento Rural do Paraná (IDR), Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil
  • 3 State University of Maringá, Maringá, Paraná, Brazil

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Root-knot nematodes (RKNs) are considered a limiting factor for tomato production, causing substantial economic losses. Several control measures have been used to control RKNs in infested areas, such as crop rotation or succession with non-host species, using resistant cultivars, and applying chemical and biological nematicides. Here, we examined the control effect of six microbiological products (Ag109 -Bacillus velezensis, Votivo Prime -B. firmus, Quartzo -B. subtilis and B. licheniformis, Veraneio -B. amyloliquefaciens, Nemat -Purpureocillium lilacinum, and Rizotec -Pochonia chlamydosporia) against different species of Meloidogyne in tomatoes cultivated in a greenhouse and evaluated these products under field conditions to verify their impact on root-associated nematode populations and agronomic and physicochemical traits of fruits from grafted and non-grafted tomato plants. For the greenhouse studies, higher pathogenicity was observed for tomato with M. javanica and M. enterolobii compared to M. incognita. The microbiological nematicides were more effective in controlling M. javanica and M. enterolobii, while for M. incognita, the evaluated products were ineffective. Regarding the field studies, most of the microbiological nematicides evaluated effectively increased production per plant. However, when analyzing the Meloidogyne population in the field, applying microbiological nematicides showed no nematode control in plants without rootstock. On the other hand, in the grafted plants, the Ag109, Veraneio, Rizotec, and Nemat treatments boosted the reduction in the Meloidogyne population in the roots, with average reductions of 68.47, 57.97, 77.29, and 56.70%, respectively. These results indicate the effectiveness of integrated management of microbiological nematicides and resistant rootstock in tomato. Furthermore, combining these two control measures resulted in no change in the nutritional quality of tomato fruits.

    Keywords: Solanum lycopersicum L., Meloidogyne, biological control, Integrated Pest Management, Bionematicide

    Received: 09 Jul 2024; Accepted: 25 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Pontes, Machado, Nogueira, Fagundes, Lima Filho, Mosela, Mian, Santiago and Gonçalves. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Leandro S. Gonçalves, State University of Londrina, Londrina, Brazil

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.