Effect of biofumigation for the management of nematodes in banana

Abstract

The study was conducted to find out the comparative effect of biofumigation, mulching, bioagent and organic manures for the management of nematodes in banana. The results revealed that application of all the non-chemical treatments gave significant reduction in nematode population. The lowest nematode population (231 nematodes in 200 cc soil) was recorded in paring + biofumigation using crop residues of cabbage @ 5 kg pit-1 at harvesting stage giving 80 percent reduction over untreated. The banana yield was higher in paring+ biofumigation with crop residues of cabbage (9.97 / plant), paring + mulching with green leaves of Gliricidia maculata (9.63 kg/ plant) and chemical, carbosulfan (10.30 kg/ plant). The population of free living and predatory nematodes were significantly higher in all treatments than untreated and chemical check, paring+ carbosulfan treatment. Paring+ biofumigation using crop residues of cabbage resulted 6 and 8 fold increase in population of free living and predatory nematodes respectively.