Comparative effectiveness of chicken dung, BIOACT, urea and phenamiphos in controlling nematodes and increasing yield of potted tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.)

A pot experiment was conducted outside the greenhouse to compare the effectiveness of two rates each of chicken dung (8.11 and 16.22 g/pot), phenamiphos 10G (0.08 and 0.16 g/pot), urea (0.42 and 0.68 g/pot) and BIOACT (10 ml of 10 g/40 liter and 10 ml of 10 g/25 liter suspension which are equivalent to 1 million and 2 million spores per ml, respectively) in controlling nematodes and in increasing tomato yield. Acids, namely, formic acetic, propionic and butyric were present in the chicken dung used. Analysis of oven-dried chicken dung yielded 2.52% N, 4.24% P2O5 and 3.93% K2O. Both rates of chicken dung, phenamiphos 10G, and BIOACT equally reduced the nematode population (mostly Meloidogyne incognita and R. reniformis) during the midcropping and at last harvest. The range of percentage reductions during the midcropping was 55.4 (low phenamiphos 10G) to 64.2 (high phenamiphos 10G). At last harvest, the range of percentage reductions in total populations (from 50 cc soil and 1 g roots) was 53.3 (low chicken dung) to 63.1 (high BIOACT). These treatments likewise equally increased the tomato yield. Urea also reduced the nematode populations (15.4% and 18.6% for low and high rates, respectively) during the last harvest and increased the yield to a lesser degree. Laboratory experiments were also conducted to test the nematicidal effects of different dilutions of chicken dung extract, concentrations of phenamiphos 10 g and urea solutions, BIOACT suspensions, and to determine the trapping efficiency of nematophagous fungi isolated from chicken dung. Crude chicken dung extract (1:10) caused the highest percentage mortality of both M. incognita and R. reniformis larvae followed by high phenamiphos 10G concentration (40 ppm) and 1:10 chicken dung extract dilution and low phenamiphos 10G solution concentration (20 ppm). The 1:100, 1:1000 chicken dung extract dilutions and urea solutions (105 and 170 chickens) were not effective. Two nematophagous fungi were isolated and identified from chicken dung namely A. oligospora and D. brochopaga