EFFECTS OF SOME PLANT EXTRACTS AND POWDER TO CONTROL ROOT KNOT NEMATODEES (Meloidogyne javanica)Chitwood on SWEET MELON IN YOLA, NIGERIA

Field and Laboratory experimentwasconducted to determine the effect of some plant materials namely Nicotiana tabacum, Manihot esculentus, Curcucuma longa and Aloe barbadensis extracts, powder and NPK fertilizer rates to control root-knot nematode Melodogyne javanica on sweet melon. Laboratory experiment wasconducted in Crop Protection Department, Modibbo Adama University Yola, while the field experiment wasconducted in Loko Village of Song Local Government Area of Adamawa State in 2024cropping season. In the Laboratory the effect of aqueous extracts of N. tabacum, M. esculentus, C. longa and A. barbadensis and a control (distilled water only) on juvenile mortality and egg hatchability of M. javanica wasevaluated over a period of twenty four (24) hours for four days. The experiment waslaid out in a Complete Randomized Design (CRD). Field experiment waslaid out in split-split plot design with three replications. The three factors wasthree local cultivars of sweet melon assigned to the main plot, NPK Fertilizer rates as the sub plot while plant leaf powder as the sub-sub plot consisting of 135 plots. 50 g each of the plant leaf powder of Nicotiana tabacum, Manihot esculentus, Curcuma longa and Aloe barbadensiswasincorporated into each plot with the control having zero application with three levels of fertilizer at three weeks intervals after sowing. Data wasanalyzed using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and means wasseparated using least significant difference (LSD) at 5 % level of probability. The parameters to be recorded were establishment count, number of leaves, vine length, number of flowers, number of fruits, fruit weight, fresh vine weight, dry vine weight, fresh root weight, dry root weight, root length, gall index, nematode population. It was discover that plant powder and extractshave the potentials to control root-knot nematodes both in laboratory and field, therefore more work should be carried out to ascertain the nematicidal efficacy of N. tabacum at 400 kg ha-1 rate before recommendation