Abstract
Agricultural activities such as watering crops with nematode-infested water from wells and boreholes, and using infected plant debris as manure or mulch increase root-knot nematode infection. So, this study aims at assessing the influence of the inoculation method and inoculum level of Meloidogyne incognita on the development of root galls on okra plants. Two M. incognita inoculation methods (suspension of individuals and galled root explants) and six inoculum levels (0, 10, 100, 500, 1000 and 2000 second-stage larvae/plant) were studied. The gall index, total numbers and reproductive factor of M. incognita were used to assess the effect of treatments on root gall development. Unlike the reproductive factor, gall index and the total numbers of M. incognita increased with their inoculum level. The pathogenic activities of M. incognita were most significant when crop soils were infested with galled root explants. However, an inverse relationship was found between the inoculum levels of M. incognita and the okra plant’s development. It is reflected by negative correlation coefficients ranging from -0.90 to -0.62. It is therefore important to burn roots infected with root-knot nematodes left in fields so that they do not act as an inoculum for crops.
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