The effect of three Trichoderma species and organic sulfur on root-knot nematode of cucumber

Today, with the increase in cucumber cultivation in greenhouses and fields, their contamination with root-knot nematodes is observed in some areas.The effect of three Trichoderma species (T.crassum, T. harzianum and T. afroharzianum) with liquid organic sulfur of Raskood company on the control of root-knot nematode (Meloidogyne javanica) on cucumber (Nagin variety) was investigated with two separeted tests under greenhouse conditions, in this research.Both tests were done with eight treatments (the use of each of the mushrooms together with sulfur, each of the fungi alone and sulfur alone and the infected control) in five repetitions and the form of Completely Randomized Design with Duncan's test at 5% level.In order to infect the plants, 2500 second-stage larvae and nematode eggs were added to each kilogram of potting soil containing cucumber seedlings at the four-leaf stage.Then, depending on the type of treatment, one milliliter of Trichoderma suspension (10 6 spores per milliliter) and sulfur were added to each seedling, and the pots were investigated after 45 and 60 days for the first and second tests, respectively.Data analysis was done using SAS 9.4 software.The results of this study showed that in both tests, the use of sulfur with each of the fungi and sulfur alone led to significant differences between the plant growth indicators of tretments (fresh and dry weight of aerial organs, lenght of the root and aerial organs) and control.Also, nematode pathogenicity factors (the number of second stage larvae in the soil, the number of female nematodes in each gall, the number of female nematodes in the whole root, the number of galls in the whole root, the number of egg mass in each gall, the number of egg mass in the whole The root and reproduction factor) of the treatments that with both of Tricoderma and sulfur together, as well as the treatment using sulfur alone showed a significant difference compared to the control.However, in the both of tests, the most effective treatments were related to the use of T. crassum together with sulfur.