Abstract

SUSTAINABLE USE OF MEDICINAL PLANTS TO CONTROL MELOIDOGYNE INCOGNITA-A STRATEGY TO FIGHT ROOT KNOT DISEASE OF CROPS IN RAJASTHAN, INDIA

Trivedi Lily, Datta Soumana* and Trivedi P.C.

ABSTRACT

Medicinal plants acts as a source of drugs for rural areas in Rajasthan and the local healers use them for disease cure and prevention in humans, plants and livestock. Local communities and tribes play a great role in conserving medicinal plants since generations. Variable temperature and rainfall patterns often cause pathogens to thrive in various climatic regimes. Soil nematodes like the root knot nematode, Meloidogyne incognita, found in arid and semi arid soils of Rajasthan in India, attack roots and cause great loss to crops and other plants of economic value. Farmers use indigenous methods as well as chemical means to control various plant pathogens. In the present study plant leaves of trees and shrubs growing abundantly in Rajasthan, were evaluated in vitro in the form of aqueous extract and in vivo as dry leaf powder against nematode M. incognita. The inhibition of egg hatching of M. incognita by different plant leaf extracts in decreasing order was as follows: Aegle marmelos >Prosopis cineraria >Nerium oleander > Clerodendron aculeatum > Bougainvillea spectabilis> Lantana camara > Withania somnifera >Thevetia peruviana > Cassia fistula > Nemacon > Vircon > Control at both lower and higher concentrations and was nemostatic in nature. Minimum gall formation was observed in Aegle marmelos and Prosopis cinerarea treated plants. Use of Aegle marmelos and Prosopis cinerarea (both as aqueous extracts and dry powder) is recommended for the management of root knot disease both in vitro and in vivo. Sustained ecofriendly strategies like use of leaf powders can help farmers in controlling root knot diseases in plants as well as retaining soil nutrition and health and should therefore be encouraged.

Keywords: Medicinal plants, leaf extracts, nematostatic, egg hatching, Meloidogyne incognita.