Screening of available germplasm lines of bitter gourd against root-knot nematode

Among the germplasm lines, IC-44410, IC-44415, IC-44417, IC-44426, IC-45341 and IC-45346 were found to be susceptible to root-knot nematode. Remaining all germplasm lines were found to be highly susceptible to root-knot nematode. The number of root galls/egg masses recorded in highly susceptible lines ranged from 116.00 to 181.00 /plant. The gall index recorded in these lines was 5.00/plant. The number of root galls/egg masses recorded in susceptible lines ranged from 72.00 (IC-44415) to 82.33 (IC-45341)/plant. The gall index recorded in these lines was 4.00/plant. It could also be seen from the data presented in Table 2 that the initial root-knot nematode population in soil was 1000 J2 /pot and six weeks after inoculation, the nematode population of susceptible lines was lower than the highly susceptible lines. The susceptible germplasm lines, IC-44410, IC-44415, IC-44417, IC-44426, IC-45341 and IC-45346 recorded the multiplication factor of 2.08, 2.18, 2.64, 2.40, 2.30 and 2.35 respectively.