| dc.description.abstract | On-farm and on-station field experiments were carried out to determine the potential of combining Bacillus subtilis with soil fertility management practices
for controlling plant parasitic nematodes associated with common bean, (Phaseolus vulgaris). The treatments were Bacillus subtilis (isolate K194), B. subtilis plus cow manure,
B. subtilis plus mavuno, Bacillus subtilis plus calcium ammonium nitrate + triple super phosphate, manure alone, mavuno alone with calcium ammonium nitrate + triple super phosphate as the control. The recommended farmers’ practice entailed application of triple super phosphate and calcium ammonium nitrate at the rate of 1000 and 890 kg/ha, respectively. Manure and mavuno were applied at the rate of 10 tons and 890 kg/ha, respectively. The on-farm trial was carried out in 12 different farms. The combination of Bacillus subtilis inoculum and cow manure led to a 54% reduction in numbers of plant parasitic nematodes, compared to the untreated control. Consequently, damage by root-knot nematodes produced galls with galling indices1.6 and 4.5respectively in plots treated with the combination (B. subtilis and cow manure) and the untreated control, respectively. Compared to the other treatments, combining B. subtilis and organic amendments resulted in the highest nematode diversity. It can therefore be concluded that the plant parasitic nematodes associated with common bean can be maintained at levels below economic threshold using B. subtilis combined with cow manure, an integration which also demonstrated conservation of the nematode diversity | en_US |
