author(s)
V Bindu Priyanka and Niranjan Das

abstract
A pot culture experiment was conducted to assess the efficacy of certain bioagents on management of plant parasitic nematodes infecting bittergourd. Bittergourd seeds of var. Green long were sown in infested soil in 15cm diameter earthen pots. The pre-incubated bioagents viz. Purpureocillium lilacinum, Pochonia chlamydosporia, Bacillus pumilus and Pseudomonas fluorescens either alone or in combination; FYM and carbofuran were applied to the pot soil as per treatments. Need based irrigation, weeding and other cultural operations were provided. The effect of treatments on growth parameters of bittergourd plants and population of nematodes were observed 45 days after sowing and application of bioagents. It was revealed that combined application of Purpureocillium lilacinum and Pseudomonas fluorescens enhanced the vine length, root length, shoot weight and root weight of bittergourd plants to the tune of 73.3%, 62.5%, 58.0% and 82.3% respectively over untreated control. Population buildup of nematodes was also observed to be more affected by this treatment. The population of root knot nematode, lance nematode, spiral nematode and stunt nematode was reduced by 54.0, 78.1, 75.6 and 84.6% respectively by this treatment from their initial population with overall reduction of 63.1%.