The role of root-knot nematode on the wilt disease of Telfairiaoccidentalis in northern Nigeria

Abstract

Cultivation of Telfairia occidentalis, an important vegetable grown in central and southern Nigeria, has gradually diffused to northern Nigeria where it has gained an economic importance. Its cultivation is, however, threatened by wilt disease occurring in farmers’ fields. A preliminary survey of farmers’ fields indicated that the disease was severe in fields with high root-knot population compared to the fields with less root-knot. Using Koch's postulate, the wilt causative organism was identified as Fusarium spp. The objective of this study was to determine therole of Meloidogyne incognita and its interaction with Fusarium oxysporum onwilt development in T. occidentalis. Four-week-old seedlings, raised in heat sterilised soil, were inoculated with Fusarium spp. and M. incognita under screenhouse condition. Seedlings were either inoculated with M. incognita and/or F.oxysporum as sole infection and as combined infection in a complex. Combined infection with both pathogens produced wilt symptom on the plant and gave significantly lower vegetative yield (p = 0.05) than sole inoculation with either M.incognita or F. oxysporum, except where the seedlings were mechanically inoculated with F. oxysporum. Results from the screenhouse studies were consistent with the field observations.