Efficiency of symbiotic bacteria of entomopathogenic nematodes to control a population of Nacobbus aberrans

LAX, P.; RONDAN DUEÑAS, J.C.; CACCIA, M.G.; DOUCET, M.E

Cancún

Congreso; XLIV Reunión Anual de la Organización de Nematólogos de los Trópicos Americanos (ONTA).; 2012

In the last years special efforts have been made to identify natural antagonists for the integrated control of plant-parasitic nematodes of agricultural importance. Nacobbus aberrans is widely distributed in Argentina and parasitizes several crops and weeds. Recent studies conducted by our research group with isolates of entomopathogenic nematodes (EPN) (families Steinernematidae and Heterorhabditidae) showed a clear antagonistic activity on N. aberrans, which would be caused by the EPN-symbiotic bacteria (SB) complex. In the present work, the effect of SB extracted from EPN on this plant-parasitic nematode was evaluated in vitro and on tomato plants. A nematicidal effect (under in vitro conditions) on second-stage juveniles of N. aberrans was observed, producing 100% mortality in some cases. The application SB and their metabolites to the soil significantly reduced the number of galls (33% to 67%) and nematode reproduction (55% to 80%) on the host. These results show that SB and their metabolites might be used as potential biological control agents of local N. aberrans populations.