UTILIZAÇÃO DE PRODUTOS BIOLÓGICOS NO CONTROLE DE M. enterolobii NA CULTURA DA BERINJELA

Abstract

Eggplant is one of the most important vegetables in Brazil and the attack of root-knot nematodes causes great damage to the crop. The species Meloidogyne enterolobii is emerging in Brazil and due to its aggressiveness it represents a great potential for damage in eggplant cultivation. Biological control is a viable strategy for managing this nematode. Therefore, this work aimed to evaluate the action of biological nematicides in the control of M. enterolobii in the eggplant crop. The experiment was carried out in a greenhouse in a completely randomized design with 8 treatments and five replications. The eggplant seedlings were cultivated in 2.5 L pots containing the substrate soil/sand 2:1 (v/v) previously sterilized. After seven days of transplanting, the plants were inoculated with 5000 eggs of M. enterolobii and simultaneously applied the biological agents: Pseudomonas fluorescens; Burkholderia pyrrocinia; Bacillus subtilis; Serratia sp.; Thichoderma asperellum; and a Rugby chemical nematicide. At 60 days after inoculation, the following variables were evaluated: number of galls and number of eggs, fresh mass of the root and aerial part, and dry mass of the aerial part. The nematode presented a high reproductive rate, reducing the vegetative development of the eggplant. The biological products had a positive effect, reducing the number of galls and eggs of M. enterolobii. The treatments using Demether (Pseudomonas fluorescens) and Imperium (Bacillus subtilis) with reductions of 40.83% and 45.64% were the ones that had the best results in the control of M. enterolobii in eggplant.