Abstract
The use of biological agents is one of the promising strategies for the regulation of populations of pests that have the least impact on the environment. An experiment using the chitinolytic fungus Aphanocladium album MX-95 (AA MX-95) was carried out on melon plants in a greenhouse with a natural background infection of Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. melonis and the Southern Gall nematode Meloidogyne incognita in Valenzano (Province of Bari, Apulia). A suspension of MX-95 isolate (2 x 107 CFU / mL) was added at a concentration of 2.5 l / plot using plastic tubes fitted with water emitters (according to each melon plant in the row). The suspension of the fungus was added 2 weeks before planting and after planting 3 times every 2 weeks. There was also an option with processing only after landing (3 treatments). Control options included untreated soil and a soil with a diazomet (600 kg / ha), distributed 30 days before planting. Versions with AA MX-95 significantly reduced fusarial wilt, especially when the treatment was before and after planting, much more effective than with chemical control of the diazomet (fungicide and nematicide). The effect of the fungus, introduced before and after planting, was especially manifested in the development of meloydohynosis. The index of galling and the population number of nematodes at the end of the experiment in the soil were reduced by 50 and 63%, respectively, compared with the control. The effectiveness of the AA MX-95 applied before and 3 times after planting was similar and did not differ from the chemical standard diazomet.
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