CULTURE OF THE FUNGUS PAECJLOMYCES LILACINUS AND ITS USE IN THE CONTROL OF THE TOMATO ROOT-KNOT NEMATODE MELOIDOGYNE INCOGNITA

A medium containing coconut juice, wheat bran and sand was selected for culturingPaecilomyces lilacinus, a parasitic fungus on tomato root-knot nematode, Meloidgyne incognita insouthern China. Results of the laboratory tests showed a 54% parasitization of the nematodeeggs by the fungus. In an experiment of treating tomato plants at their transplanting fromseedling beds with a preparation of rice kernel infected with P. lilacinus, applications of 4 and8 grams of the preparation per experimental pot resulted in 35.3% and 41.2% of egg parasitization 50 days after the treatment. When a preparation of the fungus with wheat bran and sand was applied in the plots in a production plastic shed one month prior to transplanting tomato, it was found that the average growth height of the tomato plants in the treated plots was4-5 cm higher than that in a non-treated control plot, while the number of flowers and fruits,number of nematode infected root and number of nematode larvae were about 1/3 to 1/4 ofthose in the control.