Nematocidal Activity of Artemisia vulgaris Linn. (Damong Maria) Against the Root-knot Nematodes, Meloidogyne spp

Abstract

INTRODUCTION

Several methods are currently implemented for nematode-control. Nematicides are substances that inhibit or prevent the growth of these organisms. However, these usually bring life-threatening conditions especially for synthetic nematicides. For this reason, the researchers evaluated the nematocidal activity of Artemisia vulgaris Linn. (damong maria) against root-knot nematodes, Meloidogyne spp.

METHODS

Laboratory exposure of the nematodes were performed by placing 100 microliters of nematode suspension per well. Each well contains an average number of 15 second stage juveniles and treated with 10%, 30% and 60% concentrations of Artemia vulgaris Linn. ethanolic plant extract and 3 granules of Furadan as the positive control. This experiment was done in four replicates. Data were collected after 1, 2, 3, 6, 15, and 24-hour periods of observation.

RESULTS

It was observed that the inhibitory activities of the varied concentrations of A. vulgaris plant extract grew more aggressive as time progressed. On the first hours of exposure, the effects were not as noticeable as that of the positive control, Furadan. As the period of exposure got longer, the inhibition of the target species drastically increased.At the last point of observation, the activities were virtually alike with Furadan. Highest concentration of plant extract also showed highest inhibitory rate among all concentrations.

DISCUSSIONS

The results established the need of a non-toxic method of nematicide utilization that would not pose hazardous risks to plants and humans. Continuous usage of synthetic nematicides that possess several toxic chemicals can bring a lot of threats to the life of the plants and individuals.