Effect of Meloidogyne incognita and Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cucumerinum on cucumber grown under protected cultivation

Effect of Meloidogyne incognita and Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cucumerinum on cucumber grown in the polyhouse under protected conditions. The experiment was conducted in pots to evaluate the effect of nematode and fungus individually as well as in various sequential combinations i.e. simultaneous inoculation of nematode and fungus (SIS), nematode one week prior to fungus (1WBF) and nematode one week after fungus (1WAF). The results revealed that nematode inoculation caused significantly more reduction in plant growth parameter, viz., shoot length (SL), root length (RL), fresh shoot weight (FSW), fresh root weight (FRW), dry shoot weight (DSW) and dry root weight (DRW) of cucumber as a comparison to fungus alone, however, combined inoculation of the nematode and fungus was statistically significant with respect to reduction in plant growth parameter over their individual effect. Maximum and significantly more reduction in plant growth parameters viz., SL (125.5cm), RL (32.0cm), FSW (44.0g), FRW (24.3g), SDW (8.5g) and DRW (4.1g) was observed in the treatment where nematode was inoculated one week before fungus as compares to an untreated check having SL (138.2), RL (47.5), FSW (58.5), FRW (37.5), SDW (21.5), and DRW (9.4). Nematode reproduction in terms of formation of galls and egg masses and final nematode population in soil was also significantly suppressed in the treatment where nematode was inoculated one week prior to fungus.