PJB-2018-1806
Seaweed bio-fertilizer for the management of root rotting fungi and root knot nematodes affecting cotton crop
Viqar Sultana, Samrah Tariq, Khan Hira, Amna Tariq, Jehan Ara, R.M. Tariq and Syed Ehteshamul-Haque
Abstract
Seaweed can promote plant growth and also enable them to tolerate drought, disease or frost. In this study, eight seaweeds Stokeyiaindica, Stoechospermum marginatum, Sargassum binderi, Spatoglossum variabile (brown), Melanothamnus afaqhusainii, Solieriarobusta (red), Rhizocloni umimplexum and Halimeda tuna (green) collected from Buleji beach, Karachi were evaluated for their role in protecting the cotton from soilborne pathogenic fungi Macrophomina phaseolina, Rhizoctonia solani, Fusarium solani and Meloidogyne javanica, a root knot nematode. Both in screen house and in field experiments application of seaweed as soil amendment caused marked reduction of pathogenic fungi and root knot nematode on cotton roots. Suppressive effect of seaweed on root pathogens is comparable with commercial fungicide and nematicide in reducing the fungal root infection, nematode’s galls on roots and nematode’s population in soil around roots. For plant growth and suppression of root pathogens of cotton seaweeds offer a non-chemical means in agriculture in the replacement of chemical fungicides and nematicides
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