Protective effect of Bacillus subtilis, B. pumilus, and Pseudomonas fluorescens isolates against root knot nematode Meloidogyne incognita on cowpea

Bulletin of the National Research Centre

Table 3 Effects of Bacillus subtilis, B. pumilus, and Pseudomonas fluorescens isolates on yield parameters of cowpea grown under screen house conditions and infected with root knot nematode, Meloidogyne incognita

Treatments	Yield parameters/plant (g)									No. of bacterial nodules
	Pod						100 seeds weight		Average total percentage plant yield parameter increase (%)
	No.		Fresh weight		Dry weight		100 seeds weight
	No.	Inc. (%)	Weight	Inc. (%)	Weight	Inc. (%)	Weight	Inc. (%)		No.	Inc. (%)
B. subtilis (Bs₁)	3.5c	75	1.28d	28	0.69c	53	13.97b	54	52.5	31bc	15
B. subtilis (Bs₂)	3.1d	55	1.20e	20	0.61d	36	13.97b	54	41.3	36bc	33
B. pumilus (Bp₁)	3.7c	85	1.26d	26	0.68c	51	13.68b	51	53.3	39ab	44
B. pumilus (Bp₂)	3.6c	80	1.33c	33	0.70bc	58	13.71b	51	55.5	38ab	41
P. fluorescens (Pf₁)	5.1a	155	1.75a	75	0.80a	78	16.26a	80	97.0	37b	37
P. fluorescens (Pf₂)	4.7b	135	1.13f	13	0.73b	62	13.17bc	45	63.8	48a	78
Carbofuran 10%	3.7c	85	1.41b	41	0.68c	51	12.04c	33	52.5	39ab	44
Medium only	2.4e	20	1.03g	3	0.52e	16	10.63d	17	14.0	37bc	37
Nematode only (control)	2.0f	–	1.00h	–	0.45f	–	9.05e	–		27c	–

Means are averages of four replicates. Means followed by different letter(s) are significantly different according to Duncan^’s multiple range test at P ≤ 0.05. Inc. increase