Anino, Paolo Angelo G.; Corteza, Zigmund Bryan P.; Custodio, Vince Marvin T. (May 2010)
Philippine Science High School Western Visayas Campus – Department of Science and Technology (DOST-PSHS WVC), Brgy. Bito-on, Jaro, Iloilo City 5000, Philippines
ABSTRACT
Plant-parasitic nematodes are known to be one of the greatest threats to crops throughout the world. Plant parasitic nematode problems have commonly been managed by chemical soil treatments and crop rotation, but there are undesirable features associated with each. Chitin has been used as a soil amendment to control root-parasitic nematodes. Chitin is the main component of the cell walls of fungi, the exoskeletons of arthropods, the radulas of mollusks and the beaks of cephalopods.
This study conducted an experiment to evaluate the effects of crushed oyster and green mussel shells on the population of root-knot nematodes in tomato plants. A tomato field in Brgy. Lanag, Leon was divided into 3 plots and each was divided into 4 subplots. For each plot, one subplot was used as control (no crushed shells). The other two subplots were applied with crushed oyster and green mussel shells, respectively. Each subplots planted with tomato plants was applied with 1000 g crushed oyster shells and 1000 g green mussel shells. Crushed shells were mixed with the top 15 cm of the soil for each plant. Nematodes were extracted with the Baermann-funnel method from soil samples collected before application of amendments and 4, 6, 8 weeks after application. A compound microscope was used to view and count the nematodes collected from samples collected.
The gradual increase in the population of nematodes from week 0 to 6 would mean that there is growth within the population of root-knot nematodes. There was a decrease in the number of nematodes present in soil amended with oyster shells after week 6. There was no significant difference between all of the groups during the conduction of the study. In conclusion, the method of amending oyster and green mussel shells does not have a significant effect on the population of root-knot nematodes.