Efficacy of a Simple Formulation Composed of Nematode-Trapping Fungi and <i>Bidens pilosa</i> var. <i>radiata</i> Scherff Aqueous Extracts (BPE) for Controlling the Southern Root-Knot Nematode

Abstract

We tested a formulation composed of a mixture of Bidens pilosa var. radiata extract (BPE) and nematode-trapping fungi for its effects on Meloidogyne incognita. In earlier evaluations of the effects of plant extracts on the hyphal growth of 5 species of nematode-trapping fungi with different capture organs (traps), the growth of all species was slightly inhibited. However, an investigation on the number of capture organs and nematode-trapping rates revealed that Arthrobotrys dactyloides formed significantly more rings and nematode traps than those of the control. An evaluation of simple mixed formulations prepared using sodium alginate showed that nematodes were captured with all formulations tested. The simple mixed formulation showed a particularly high capture rate. Furthermore, in a pot test, although the effects of a single formulation made from the fungus or plant extract were acceptable, the efficacy of the simple mixed formulation against M. incognita root-knot formation was particularly high.

Fungal feature tracker (FFT): A tool for quantitatively characterizing the morphology and growth of filamentous fungi

“…Other features such as conidiation or spore formation are frequently measured by means of time-consuming manual techniques [11,13,15]. Moreover, other fungal structures such as the traps developed by NTF are measured manually [10,12,16]. Thus, it is challenging to produce objective and quantitative results, and to capture subtle phenotypic differences using these approaches.…”