Control of plant-parasitic nematodes by Paecilomyces lilacinus and Monacrosporium lysipagum in pot trials

The common soil inhabiting nematophagous fungus Paecilomyces lilacinus (Thom) Samson and the nematode trapping fungus Monacrosporium lysipagum (Drechsler) Subram were assayed for their ability to reduce the populations of three economically important plant-parasitic nematodes in pot trials. The fungi were tested individually and in combination against the root-knot nematode Meloidogyne javanica (Treub) Chitwood, cereal cyst nematode Heterodera avenae Wollenweber, or burrowing nematode Radopholus similis (Cobb) Thorne on tomato, barley and tissue cultured banana plants, respectively. In all cases, nematode populations were controlled substantially by both individual and combined applications of the fungi. Combined application of P. lilacinus and M. lysipagum reduced 62% of galls and 94% of M. javanica juveniles on tomato when compared to the experiment with no fungi added. Sixty five percent of H. avenae cysts were reduced on barley by combined application of fungi. Control of R. similis on banana, both in the roots and in the soil, was greatest when M. lysipagum was applied alone (86%) or in combination with P. lilacinus (96%), using a strategy where the fungi were inoculated twice in 18 weeks growth period. Overall, combined application of P. lilacinus and M. lysipagum was the most effective treatment in controlling nematode populations, although in some cases M. lysipagum alone was as effective as the combined application of fungi, particularly against M. javanica.