Vol.:(0123456789) 1 3 Indian Phytopathology https://doi.org/10.1007/s42360-020-00276-1 SHORT COMMUNICATION Efcacy of Purpureocillium lilacinum, Trichoderma harzianum and T. viride bio-formulations against Meloidogyne incognita Navjot Bawa 1  · Sukhjeet Kaur 2  · N. K. Dhillon 1 Received: 27 April 2019 / Revised: 1 September 2020 / Accepted: 8 September 2020 © Indian Phytopathological Society 2020 Abstract The root knot nematode, Meloidogyne incognita, is a sedentary endoparasitic plant pathogen with broad host range. It infects variety of crops and causes drastic annual crop yield losses worldwide. Its management is a major concern for sustainable crop production. In the present study, bio-formulations viz.., Purpureocillium lilacinum WP (1 × 10 8 CFU/g), P. lilacinum Liquid (1 × 10 9 CFU/ml), Trichoderma harzianum (WP) (2 × 10 6 CFU/g) and T. viride (WP) (2 × 10 6 CFU/g) along with chemical control Furadan 3G were evaluated for their comparative efcacy in suppressing egg hatching and causing juve- nile mortality of M. incognita. All the bio-formulations showed certain degree of egg hatch suppression as well as juvenile mortality of M. incognita over untreated control when exposed to diferent concentrations over a period of time and their efcacy increased with increase in concentration and exposure period. Among all the bio-formulations, P. lilacinum (Liq- uid) formulation showed overall signifcantly more egg hatch inhibition (64.0%) and all other formulations were at par with each other. For juvenile mortality all the bio-formulations behaved signifcantly at par with each other however, P. lilacinum (Liquid) formulation showed comparatively more juvenile mortality. Keywords Bio-pesticides · In vitro · Comparative efcacy · Root knot nematode Root knot nematodes of Genus Meloidogyne includes the most damaging groups of obligate plant-parasitic nematodes on almost all major crops being grown (Gill and Mcsor- ley 2011). They are distributed worldwide with more than hundred valid species of which Meloidogyne incognita, M. javanica, M. arenaria, M. hapla and M. graminicola are eco- nomically important species (Jones and Goto 2011; Kumari et al. 2017). They attack the plant directly by entering tender roots and making feeding sites and indirectly by predispos- ing the plant to other pathogens by causing mechanical root damage and changing host physiology. The infected plants show stunting, chlorosis (yellowing), day time wilting and formation of distinct swellings or knots on the root surface (Hunt and Handoo 2009). They are reported to cause an estimated annual losses worth 100 billion dollars worldwide (Ralmi et al. 2016) and about Rs. 77,373.87 million in dif- ferent crops in India (Kumar et al. 2020). The management of root knot nematode is therefore very important for sustainable crop production. Several manage- ment strategies viz., cultural practices like crop rotation, green manuring, intercropping and soil amendments, grow- ing of resistant cultivars, biological control agents and vari- ous chemical nematicides, are being used for root knot nem- atode management. However, management of this nematode is more difcult in comparison to other pests due to their soil borne nature, high reproductive potential and extensive host range. The use of nematicides is undesirable due to associ- ated problems of residual toxicity, environmental pollution and public health hazards (Tariq et al. 2013). Further, efec- tive host resistance is also not available for most of the crop plants. Use of biological control agents, either alone or inte- grated with other pest management strategies (Singh et al. 2012) could be an alternative strategy for their management. Recently, more thrust is being given towards the organic cultivation of the crops especially the vegetable crops so as to reduce the chemical load in our food chain. The agricul- turists are taking interest in developing bio-pesticides that * Sukhjeet Kaur sk-randhawa@pau.edu 1 Department of Plant Pathology, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, Punjab 141004, India 2 Department of Vegetable Science, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, Punjab 141004, India