Use of the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus Glomus intraradices as biological control agent of Nacobbus aberrans parasitizing tomato.

MARRO, N.; LAX, P.; CABELLO, M.; DOUCET, M.E.; BECERRA, A.

BRAZILIAN ARCHIVES OF BIOLOGY AND TECHNOLOGY

INST TECNOLOGIA PARANA

Lugar: Curitiba, Brazil; Año: 2014 vol. 57 p. 668 - 674

1516-8913

The plant-parasitic nematode Nacobbus aberrans is an endoparasite that induces gall formation in the roots and causes severe losses to diverse crops. Some populations of this nematode show preference for certain hosts, revealing the existence of races with different behavior and making nematode management difficult. A possible biological control alternative to reduce damage caused by this species may be the use of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF). At the present work, the effect of Glomus intraradices on tomato plants inoculated with the nematode at transplanting and three weeks later was tested. At 60 days, the following parameters were estimated: percentage of AMF colonization, length and weight of root and aerial part, and number of galls and egg masses, and reproduction factor (RF=final population/initial population) of N. aberrans. AMF colonization was greater in presence of the nematode and mycorrhized plants presented greater aerial and root biomass. The use of AMF favoured tomato plant development and reduced the number of galls and RF on plants inoculated only at transplanting.