VIEW ARTICLE

Effect of Soil Amendments on Hatching of Meloidogyne incognita Eggs. Leander F. Johnson, Professor of Plant Pathology, Department of Agricultural Biology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville 37916; N. B. Shamiyeh, Research Assistant, Department of Agricultural Biology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville 37916. Phytopathology 65:1178-1181. Accepted for publication 27 May 1975. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-65-1178.

Eggs of Meloidogyne incognita were placed in soil amended with various plant materials. Hatching was determined periodically with an agar-slide technique. Hatching was inhibited in alfalfa- or soybean-amended soils, but not in soils amended with other plant materials. Progressively more inhibition of hatching occurred as the concentration of alfalfa was increased from 1% to 8% (w/w). In soil containing 4% alfalfa, ammonium-nitrogen rose to 380 µg/g, a concentration previously found to reduce nematode populations in the retention zones in fields fertilized with anhydrous ammonia. Inorganic and organic compounds containing nitrogen were added to soils in quantities such that the nitrogen concentrations were equivalent to that of soils containing 4% alfalfa. Egg hatching was inhibited in such soils amended with inorganic ammonium compounds, amino acids, or protein hydrolysate.