Pot experiment was conducted in the year 2010 and repeated in 2011 to examine the effects of organic manure (poultry, cow dung, domestic waste) and inorganic manure (NPK 15:15:15) on the yield, soil and root population of Meloidogyne incognita that infected Ethiopian eggplant Solanum aethiopicum in a greenhouse at Kabba College of Agriculture, Ahmadu Bello University, Kabba, Nigeria. Each of the organic manure was applied as soil amendment at the rate of 5 t/ha and the inorganic fertilizer (NPK) was applied at the rate of 200 kg/ha while there was an untreated control that acted as standard check. The experimental design was a completely randomized design comprising of five treatments including control and each of the treatments was replicated four times. The results of the experiment showed that all the organic manures considered and NPK fertilizer were effective in suppressing nematode negative effects on the plant as manifested in improved yield, reduced soil and root population as well as in reduced gall index of the organic and inorganic manure treated plants compared with the control. The mean fruit yield of the manure treated plant was 18+1, of NPK fertilizer treated ones was 17, while the average fruit number in untreated control was 6.5. The organic and inorganic manures treated plants had bigger fruit size compared with control and were significantly different from the control. The soil and root population as well as root gall index were reduced in all the manure treatments compared with the control and they were significantly different from the control. The results of this experiment confirmed that organic manure can be utilized to manage root-knot nematode (M. incognita) in soil.

Ethiopian eggplant; fruit number; fruit size; inorganic manures; Meloidogyne incognita; organic manure

Published by University of Zagreb, Faculty of Agriculture, Zagreb, CROATIA
Sponsored by Ministry Science and Education of the Republic of Croatia