author(s)
S Dharani, P Kalaiarasan, N Swarnakumari, V Premalakshmi and K Poornima

abstract
An in vitro screening method was developed for evaluating tomato accessions under lab condition and compared with normal screening method under glasshouse conditions. Thirty genotypes of tomato were evaluated for resistance against root knot nematode, Meloidogyne incognita (Race 3) under glasshouse and laboratory conditions. The lab method was done using Petri dish and germination paper which was named as early detection method. Early detection method is the simple method, where the susceptible varieties can be easily identified within a week after inoculation of root knot juveniles. At 45 days after inoculation of second stage juveniles, the seedlings were uprooted and washed to observe the presence of galls and egg masses. The accessions were ranked based on Root Knot Index (RKI). Accordingly, the reactions of tomato genotypes were indexed. Among 30 accessions screened against root knot nematode, M. incognita two accessions (EC 631364, EC 164863) were identified as highly resistant, eight accessions (EC 620394, EC 617051, EC 620288, EC 145615, EC 636874, EC 151568, EC 163606, EC 620498) were identified as resistant. The use of resistant plants is one of the cost effective alternate method to chemicals to manage the plant parasitic nematode incidence.