Nematicidal potentiality of some animal manures combined with urea against Meloidogyne arenaria and growth and productivity of sugar beet under field conditions

Abstract

Three animal culture manures viz., cattle manure (CM), sheep manure (SM) and chicken manure (ChM) at three rates as organic substances, incombinination with urea as inorganic fertilizer, were tested for their action against root-knot nematode, Meloidogyne arenaria infesting sugar beet and plant growth, yield and total soluble sugars (TSS %) under new reclaimed sandy loam field. Results indicated that all treatments at their rates significantly (p≤ 0.05 and / or 0.01) reduced females, galls and egg-mass numbers as compared to un-amended plants. All rates of Ch M treatment gave best results in protecting sugar beet plants and diminishing the nematode population densities in various stages. But, SM treatment with their rates ranked statistically in the second category. However, the three levels of CM treatment achieved the third category in managing the nematode. All treatments significantly improved infected sugar beet growth including yield and TSS %. There were positive correlations between the evaluated concentrations and the obtained reduction in numbers of the nematode stages and also all plant growth parameters including root weight (yield) and total soluble sugars.