Abstract

Among the root-knot nematodes, Meloidogyne arenaria (Neal, 1889) Chitwood, 1949 is commonly prevalent in the chilli growing tracts of Tamilnadu. Recent studies carried out by Rajagopalan and Seshadri (1969) have proved the pathogenic effect of this nematode on chillies Capsicum aiinum variety Sithur samba, Rajagopalan et. al. (1969) have observed that of the three species, M. incognita (Kofoid & White, 1919) Chitwood, 1949 M. javanica (Treub, 1885) Chitwood, 1949 and M. arenaria (Neal, 1889) Chitwood; 1949 the last one is more harmful to the chilli variety Sathur samba of Capsicum annum. No investigations have ever been made to select any resistance variety of chilli against the root-knot nematode infection except stray and causal observations made by Hare (1956). Therefore, the authors have made preliminary screening of as many as nineteen varieties of chillies against M. arenaria and the results of the observations are presented in this paper.

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