Relationship between plant density and population density of Meloidogyne incognita on eggplant

Abstract

The effect of different densities of eggplant (Solanum melongena L.) on the reproduction and population density of root-knot nematode, Meloidogyne incognita was studied under screen house conditions. It was found that there is a positive correlation between eggplant density and population density of root-knot nematode, M. incognita in roots i.e., when number of plants in the same pot increased (1-4 plants/pot), a higher number of nematode juveniles in plant roots occurred. Thus, plant density, such as 4 plants if produced it promoted the number of the hatched juveniles, galls and egg-masses in roots as compared to the plant densities of 1, 2 and 3/pot. However, number of juveniles in soil decreased with increasing plant density