author(s)
Tamireddy Anjali, Jayant Kumar Mahalik and Rudra Pratap Subudhi

abstract
A pot culture experiment was conducted in the net house during Rabi, 2018-19 to find out suitable management practices for management of root-knot nematode, Meloidogyne incognita in Gladiolus. The treatments are T₁ (Bulb soaking with Carbosulfan 25 EC @ 0.2% for 6hrs), T₂ (soil application of Purpureocillium lilacinum@ 5kg/ha), T₃(Neem oil cake @ 2.0t/ha), T₄ (soil application of Purpureocillium lilacinum@ 2.5kg/ha+ Neem oil cake @ 1.0t/ha),T₅ (Carbofuran@ 1.0kga.i/ha), T₆(T₁+T₂), T₇(T₁+T₃), T₈(T₁+T₄), T₉(T₁+T₅), T₁₀ (Untreated inoculated check). Each treatment was replicated thrice following Completely Randomized Design. The experimental result indicated that all the treatments significantly increased the plant growth parameters and decreased root-knot nematode population, number of egg masses as well as number of galls over untreated inoculated check. The combined applications gave better result than their single application. Among various treatments, T₈ (Bulb soaking with Carbosulfan 25 EC @0.2% for 6hrs followed by soil application of Purpureocillium lilacinum @2.5kg/ha along with Neem oil cake @ 1.0t/ha) resulted highest increase of plant height (95.2%), fresh shoot weight (84.3%), dry shoot weight (52.1%), root length (60.8%), fresh root weight (76.2%), dry root weight (78.2%) with corresponding decrease in number of root galls (82.1%), number of egg masses (89.6%) and root-knot nematode population (67.8%) over untreated inoculated check followed by T₉ (Bulb soaking with Carbosulfan 25 EC @0.2% for 6hrs + soil application of carbofuran @ 1.0kg a.i/ha). Therefore, Bulb soaking with Carbosulfan 25 EC @0.2% for 6hrs followed by soil application of Purpureocillium lilacinum @2.5kg/ha along with neem oil cake @ 1.0t/ha during planting was considered the most promising management option against root-knot nematode (M. incognita) affecting gladiolus crop.