Effects of Cina on root-knot disease of mulberry

Abstract

Root-knot disease of mulberry is caused by the nematode Meloidogyne incognita. It has important economic implications for sericulture. The homeopathic medicines, Cina mother tincture (MT) and potentised Cina 200C, prepared from the flowering meristems of Artemisia nilagirica (Clarke) Pamp, were applied by foliar spray on mulberry ( Morus alba L.) infected with M. incognita juveniles(J 2). Pretreatment (ending 6 days before inoculation) and post-treatment (starting 6 days after inoculation) schedules were tested. The two uninoculated control batches were treated with the same procedure with Cina MT and Cina 200C. Both pre- and post-treatment significantly reduced nematode infection in terms of root gall number and nematode population in root. All the treated plants showed improved growth in terms of fresh biomass of shoot and root, length of shoot and root, number of leaves, leaf surface area, root and leaf-protein content. Cina 200C is more effective than Cina MT in all respects of nematode control as well as growth of the test plants. Pretreatments show slightly better effects than the post-treatments. It is interesting that inoculated and treated plants not only are less affected by nematodes but also have a better growth than uninoculated, untreated control.