TABLE CONTENTS

In further glasshouse experiments, the suppression of R. similis in soil with additional high
carbon amendments was confirmed. Additional nitrogen fertiliser had no significant effect
on nematode suppression. However, the type of organic matter added to the soil significantly
altered the level of suppression. With the addition of cellulose, suppression was significantly
higher than in untreated soil or soil amended with lignin.
In a 2-year field experiment, mill-ash, compost, grass hay and mill-mud were compared to
untreated soil. The grass hay treatment was able to decrease the number and proportion of
plant-parasitic nematodes in the soil relative to untreated soil. Amendments high in carbon
appear to be well suited to suppression of R. similis in bananas.
Acknowledgements
Horticulture Australia Limited and Growcom provided funding for this work under project FR02025
Study of the Biofumigant and Suppressive Actions of Biocidal Plants,
Defatted Seed Meals and Natural Compounds towards Root-knot and Cyst
Nematodes, in Organic Farming
Curto, G. (1) & L. Lazzeri (2)
(1) Plant Protection Service, Regione Emilia-Romagna, via di Saliceto n.81, 40128 Bologna (Italy); (2) CRA -
Research Institute for Industrial Crop, via di Corticella n.133, 40129 Bologna (Italy)
In the last four years (2004-2007) a set of studies concerning the suppressive and/or
biofumigant activity of plant selections towards Meloidogyne incognita and Heterodera
schachtii, were carried out in Emilia-Romagna, Po Valley, Northern Italy. The
immobilization and nematicidal effects caused by the hydrolysis products of several
glucosinolates were checked in in vitro bioassays towards second stage juveniles,
determining the LD 50 after 24 and 48 hrs. The life cycle of either M. incognita or H. schachtii
was studied successively in the roots of accessions belonging to Brassicaceae, Leguminosae
and Graminaceae, in pot experiments in the greenhouse, with the aim of defining the best
new varieties able to effectively interrupt or significantly slow the nematode life cycle. In an
open field, some rotation schemes with either E. sativa cv. Nemat, or R. sativus cv. Boss or B.
juncea sel. ISCI, as green manure intercrops, were evaluated in decreasing the M. incognita
population in the soil, before either tomato (cv. Perfect Peel) or carrot (cv. Maestro F1) main
crops.
In the same years, liquid formulations of natural compounds and pellet and liquid products
based on Brassica carinata defatted seed meals, were both checked as amendment, fertilizing
and biofumigant treatments. At the beginning, some semi-field trials were carried out, testing
different doses of meal and pellet against M. incognita. Other trials were carried out on
tomato crops in plastic greenhouse on sandy soil, with the aim of evaluating the M. incognita
control by periodic drip applications of liquid plant extracts associated with either an
intercrop, E. sativa cv. Nemat, or a pellet based on defatted seed meals of B. carinata applied
in pre-transplant. Finally, the effectiveness of different cropping systems in organic farming
were tested, from 2005 to 2007, in open fields infested by M. incognita. Eight combinations
of crop rotation, biocidal intercropping and biofumigant treatment, were compared with the
aim of verifying the level of nematode control.
5 th International Congress of Nematology, 2008 39