Solar collector for soil disinfestation to produce Meloidogyne enterolobii free tomato seedlings in semiarid conditions

Abstract

In this study, we validated a solar collector for disinfest soil infested by Meloidogyne enterolobii for tomato seedlings production in semiarid conditions. An experiment using a randomized block design was conducted with six exposure times of the sieved substrate in the solar collector of zinc tubes. The treatments consisted of 0 (control), 6, 12, 24, 30 and 36 hours of exposure, with five replicates. After 12 hours of soil exposure in the solar collector, no galls were observed in the tomato roots, neither were eggs and second stage juveniles of M. enterolobii were observed in the soil. Based in the results obtained in this study, the solar collector was efficient in the disinfest of soil infested by M. enterolobii aiming production of tomato seedlings in semiarid conditions. Key words.