ISSN: 0973-7510

E-ISSN: 2581-690X

Research Article | Open Access
R. Poorniammal1 and S. Prabhu2
1Department of Agricultural Microbiology, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India.
2Department of Plant Protection, Horticultural College and Research Institute, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Periyakulam, Tamil Nadu, India.
Article Number: 10962 | © The Author(s). 2025
J Pure Appl Microbiol. 2025;19(4):3140-3155. https://doi.org/10.22207/JPAM.19.4.56
Received: 17 September 2025 | Accepted: 28 October 2025 | Published online: 08 December 2025
Issue online: December 2025
Abstract

Meloidogyne enterolobii, widely known as the guava root-knot nematode, poses a growing challenge to global agriculture because of its broad host spectrum and capacity to bypass resistance genes in various crops. The present study focuses on assessing the ability of Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) to induce resistance against root-knot nematodes as an alternative to chemicals. Two AMF isolates, Glomus mosseae and Rhizophagus irregularis, isolated from the guava rhizosphere, were evaluated for their bio-efficacy against M. enterolobii. In vitro twin-chamber assays and root-exudate studies showed that Glomus mosseae enabled a nematode reduction of 85.5% in juvenile penetration and 91.2% in egg hatching in comparison with non-mycorrhizal controls. GC-MS analysis of root exudates from AMF-inoculated and control plants identified octadecanoic acid, heptacosane, acetic acid, and 2,4-di-tert-butylphenol in R. irregularis-inoculated plants, and dodecyl acrylate, acetic acid, and trilinolein in G. mosseae-inoculated plants. Pot experiment revealed that G. mosseae significantly enhanced growth parameters, including shoot length (59.4 cm), shoot weight (33.7 g), root length (32.5 cm), and root weight (11.78 g), in comparison to the control plants. The combined application of G. mosseae and R. irregularis significantly enhanced soil and plant health, increasing spore counts (285 per 50 g soil), mycorrhizal colonization (95%), dehydrogenase enzyme activity (61.2 nmol TPF g-1 h-1), and glomalin-related soil proteins (1.21 mg glomalin/g soil). Additionally, this treatment markedly reduced M. enterolobii infection in guava, with fewer galls (6.3) and egg masses (0.92 per 5 g root), highlighting its potential as an effective biocontrol strategy for guava cultivation.

Keywords

Biological Control, Glomus mosseae, Meloidogyne enterolobii, Rhizophagus irregularis, Root exudates

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© The Author(s) 2025. Open Access. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License which permits unrestricted use, sharing, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.