Root-knot disease of mulberry is caused by the nematode Meloidogyne incognita. It has important economic implications for sericulture. The homeopathic medicines, Cina mother tincture (MT) and potentised Cina 200C, prepared from the flowering meristems of Artemisia nilagirica (Clarke) Pamp, were applied by foliar spray on mulberry (Morus alba L.) infected with M. incognita juveniles (J2). Pretreatment (ending 6 days before inoculation) and post-treatment (starting 6 days after inoculation) schedules were tested. The two uninoculated control batches were treated with the same procedure with Cina MT and Cina 200C. Both pre- and post-treatment significantly reduced nematode infection in terms of root gall number and nematode population in root. All the treated plants showed improved growth in terms of fresh biomass of shoot and root, length of shoot and root, number of leaves, leaf surface area, root and leaf-protein content. Cina 200C is more effective than Cina MT in all respects of nematode control as well as growth of the test plants. Pretreatments show slightly better effects than the post-treatments. It is interesting that inoculated and treated plants not only are less affected by nematodes but also have a better growth than uninoculated, untreated control.

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Aim : Methodology :Results : Interpretation :Studies on nickel pollution in soil have been mostly confined to its determination in soils receiving sewage sludge and industrial effluents and no systematic effort has been made to work out its phytotoxic limits in soil and plant. Hence, an attempt was made to establish the phytotoxic limit of Ni in alluvial soils and soybean plant.A greenhouse experiment was carried out with fifteen bulk surface (0-15 cm) soil samples. These samples were collected from cultivated fields receiving irrigation through fresh water, sewage and industrial effluents. Nickel was applied @ 0, 5, 50 and 100 mg kg as NiSO . 6H O. Soybean plants grew up to flowering stage. Post harvest soil samples were extracted with DTPA and plant samples were digested with di-acid. Nickel content in the extract was measured using atomic absorption spectrophotometer.On an average, dry matter yield of soybean was reduced by 1.56, 17.9 and 29.2% at 5, 50 and 100 mg kg of applied Ni, respectively, over control due to phyotoxicity.Phytotoxic limits of DTPA extractable Ni in soil and total Ni content in plant were computed as 3.24 and 12.0 mg kg , respectively.