Plant Extracts for Controlling Meloidogyne incognita Infected Tomato Plants Grown in Three Natural Soil Textures

The efficacy of plant leaf extracts (Ricinus communis (Castor), Anethum graveolens (Dill), Azadirachta indica (Neem), and Mentha arvensis (Mint)) across three soil types (clay, loam, and sandy) in controlling Meloidogyne incognita infection in tomato plants cv. 888 was evaluated under greenhouse conditions, results indicate that all tested plant extracts enhanced tomato plant growth parameters while reducing nematode-related metrics, with variations observed based on soil types. Among the extracts, dill exhibited the highest nematode population reduction in both soil and root, achieving 83.7, 82.0, and 77.7 % reduction rates in sandy, loamy, and clay soils, respectively. Furthermore, the nematode reproduction factor was significantly suppressed by the tested aqueous leaf extracts (dill, castor, neem, mint) or krenkel across different soil textures. These values ranged from 0.25 to 1.24 in sandy soils, 0.39 to 1.01 in loamy soils, and 0.52 to 0.74 in clay soils, compared to control values of 3.18, 2.15, and 1.10 for the same soil types, respectively.