Potential of Citral and Menthol for Suppression of Meloidogyne incognita Infection of Okra Plants.

There are several practices in the management of root-knot nematode (Meloidogyne incognita) in crop fields such as chemical pesticides, nematicides, crop rotation etc. But due to the environmental problems caused by the nematicides or pesticides, alternative tactics such as natural products are getting attention. Among the natural products, plant essential oils provide an important role in the protection of plants from insects, nematodes and microorganisms. In the present experiment in a split-root trial with okra (Abelmoschus esculentus) cv. Purbani Kranti as a host plant and M. incognita as challenging parasite, citral and menthol induced the increase of Phenylalanine ammonia lyase activity in okra plants. Citral and menthol at a rate of 2 mg/plant reduced M. incognita infection without adversely affecting plant growth or yield. This is an important finding with the application of these two essential oils for nematode control and also the reduction of chemical nematicides for environmental benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]