VIEW ARTICLE

Disease Detection and Losses

Total Protein Content of Galled Roots as an Index of Root-Knot Nematode Infestation of Lady's Finger Plants. Amalendu Chatterjee, Senior research fellow, Zoology Department of Visva-Bharati University, Santiniketan 731235, West Bengal, India, Senior author is presently senior zoological assistant, Zoological Survey of India, 8 Lindsay Street, Calcutta; Nirmal C. Sukul, reader, Zoology Department of Visva-Bharati University, Santiniketan 731235, West Bengal, India. Phytopathology 71:372-374. Accepted for publication 30 July 1980. Copyright 1981 The American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-71-372.

Lady's finger plants inoculated with Meloidogyne incognita larvae were treated with the water decoction of the leaves of three plant species (Peristrophe bicalyculata, Tragia involucrata, and Anthocephalus kadamba) and an aqueous suspension of aldrin, a soil insecticide. These four agents had different degrees of nematicidal action as measured by the amount of reduction in root galls and the rhizosphere population of M. incognita larvae. The gall index number, which reflected the degree of nematode infection, was positively correlated with percent total protein of galled host plants. The root-gall indices also were positively correlated with the nematode population. The quantity of total galled root protein thus gave a measure of the degree of M. incognita infection. The degree of efficacy of a nematicide in reducing root galling also can be measured biochemically through the quantification of total galled root protein.