Suppression of Meloidogyne hapla and Its Damage to Lettuce Grown in a Mineral Soil Amended with Chitin and Biocontrol Organisms.

Chitin was used as soil amendment in fiberglass field microplots, alone or with one or a combination of two to three species of Hirsutella rhossiliensis, Paecilomyces marquandii, Verticillium chlamydosporium, Bacillus thuringiensis, and Streptomyces costaricanus. Sudangrass and rapeseed were planted as cover crops and incorporated into soil as green manure amendments. Chitin amendment alone increased the marketable yield of lettuce in 1995 and reduced root-galling ratings and the reproduction of Meloidogyne hapla in both 1995 and 1996. Green manure amendments of sudangrass and rapeseed increased total and marketable yields of lettuce, and decreased root-galling ratings and the reproduction of M. hapla in 1996. Hirsutella rhossiliensis in combination with chitin increased total yield of lettuce over the chitin amendment alone in 1995. The combination of B. thuringiensis, S. costaricanus, and chitin either with or without P. marquandii increased total yield of lettuce over the chitin amendment alone in 1996. In most cases, however, the nematode-antagonistic organisms did not improve lettuce yield or further suppression of M. hapla compared to the chitin amendment alone. The introduced fungi were recoverable from the infested soil. The rifampicin-resistant mutant of B. thuringiensis was not isolated at the end of the season.