PATHOGENICITY OF Meloidogyne incognita AND Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici ON GROWTH, YIELD AND WILT SEVERITY IN TWO VARIETIES OF TOMATO (Solanum lycopersicum L.) IN GHANA

ABSTRACT

The pathogenicity of fungus, Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici and nematode, Meloidogyne incognita on growth, yield and wilt severity was studied on two tomato varieties, Mongal F1 and Petomech in a randomized complete block design, factorial experiment with three replications on the University of Ghana and National service farms from July 2018 to June 2019. Each plot had an area of 10 m2 with 25 plants. Fusarium inoculum of 1.3×106 cells per 5 mL was inoculated on fields naturally infested with Meloidogyne incognita at 7, 14 and 21 days after transplanting tomato seedlings to the fields to study the combined effect of both pathogens (NF7, NF14, NF21). To study their individual effects, some plots were inoculated with Fusarium oxysporum after transplanting but treated with nematicide (F), another plot was not inoculated with Fusarium oxysporum on field naturally infested with Meloidogyne incognita (N) and a control plot where field was not inoculated with Fusarium oxysporum and was treated with nematicide (C). Nematicide used in this study was Velum prime 400 SC with active ingredient Fluopyram. Meloidogyne incognita and Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. lycopersici were confirmed as the causal agents of root- knot and Fusarium wilt diseases respectively. Meloidogyne incognita and Fusarium oxysporum f sp. lycopersici existing either as individuals or combined did not affect Plant height, girth, fresh root weight and yield of tomato.  Mongal F1 tomato variety is tolerant to Fusarium wilt and root- knot disease caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici and Meloidogyne incognita respectively. Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici reduced the reproductive ability of Meloidogyne incognita on Mongal F1 and Petomech tomato varieties, with the reproductive ability of Meloidogyne incognita ranging from 0.0 to 0.3 and 0.0 to 0.2 on University of Ghana farm and National Service farm respectively. The least reproductive factor from the University of Ghana farm was (0.0) from Mongal F1 seen in the Control. The least reproductive factor was also 0.0 from treatment N in Mongal F1 and in treatment F in Petomech both from the National Service farm.