Streptomycetes in the control of Meloidogyne incognita in tomato plants

Abstract

This work aimed to evaluate the effect of six streptomycete isolates on mortality, hatching, and control of Meloidogyne incognita on tomato seedlings. An assay was conducted in Elisa plates, with the addition of 200 µL of the streptomycete metabolites, along with 20 µL of suspension containing 25 second stage juveniles (J2) of M. incognita. The metabolites produced by Streptomyces griseus subsp. griseus caused mortality of 98.2% on M. incognita. A second assay was conducted with 3 mL of streptomycete metabolites and 25 eggs of M. incognita. The isolate N0035 of Streptomyces caused inhibition of 98.8% on hatching. In a third assay, potting mix was infested with suspension of the streptomycetes isolates and incubated for 30 days. Fifteen days after germination, tomato seedlings were inoculated with a suspension containing 2,000 J2 of M. incognita. Reductions of 68% in the number of galls per gram of roots and of 76.8% in the egg mass per gram of roots were observed on tomato seedlings grown in the potting mix inoculated with Streptomyces griseus subsp. griseus, compared to the control.