Controlling Root-Knot Nematode, Meloidogyne Incognita Infecting Sugar Beet Using Some Plant Residues, a Biofertilizer, Compost and Biocides

Abstract

Sugar beet (Beta vulgaris L.) is considered an important sugar crop in Egypt and the world and it is highly infested by Meloidogyne incognita. This nematode causes damage to epiderm, cortex and stele regions including giant cells in these regions that then reflect on the water and nutrient absorption. As a result, sugar beet produces a poor yield. The obtained results can be summa- rized as follows: 1 - in general, all plant residues, biofertilizer and organic compost alone or in combination with biocides significantly reduced the number of nematode juveniles (J 2 ) in soil, number of galls and eggmasses in roots. All plant residues, biofertilizer and organic compost alone or in combination with biocides also significantly increased the studied sugar beet growth and technological characteristics as percentage sucrose, total soluble solids and juice purity. 2 - adding plant residues, organic compost (OC), nile fertile (NF) and biocides alone in the soil gave significant reduction in the number of juveniles in the soil, the galls and the eggmasses on sugar beet roots. In the greenhouse, bionema (B) proved to be the most effective material causing significant reduction (91.0, 81.3 and 83.2%, for respective nematode criteria). Also, organic compost caused a reduction of 86.3, 75.0 and 80.0% for the respective nema- tode criteria followed by dry leaves of fleabane (F), nemaless (N), mud sugar beet (M), nile fertile (NF) and dry leaves of sugar beet (S), respectively. The best results (92.3, 82.5 and 84.6) were given by 3 - combination of B+NF in reducing the nematode parameter followed by B+M, B+OC, B+S and B+F, respectively. A significant reduction of nematode parameters in this study was provided by 4 - combination of N+F, followed by N+M, N+NF, N+OC and N+S. Under field conditions, after three months, bionema proved to be the most effective material causing significant reduction (55.6, 67.9, 78.5 and 57%) in number of: juveniles in the soil, females, galls on sugar beet roots and rate of nematode build-up, respectively. After six months, a combination of B+M gave the best results (82.3, 70.8, 78.3, 84.1 and 81.1%) in reducing the nematode parameter. These results show how improved plant growth and technological characteristics help reduce the nematode Meloidogyne incognita.