Affiliation:
1. Estación Experimental Central de la Amazonía, Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Agropecuarias, La Joya de los Sachas, Ecuador
2. Tesista, Escuela Superior Politécnica de Chimborazo, Extensión Norte Amazónica
Abstract
Yellow pitahaya in the Ecuadorian Amazon has become one of the most important economic crops in the
region. However, pests (nematodes) in the soil have affected up to 100% of the crop's growth stages. Faced
with this problem, growers use various chemical nematicides that minimize this impact but cause
contamination problems. For this reason, the objective of the research was to evaluate microorganisms that
control or reduce the population of Meloidogyne incognita in the pitahaya crop at the greenhouse level. The
design was DBCA, and the statistical analysis was performed with the statistical package Infostat 2017, using
linear mixed models and Fisher's tests at 5%. The results show that root nodules decrease when P. lilacinum
+ T. asperellum is applied after nematode injection (261). In addition, the lowest number of nodulations (251)
was obtained when microorganisms were applied after nematode inoculation (251 nodulations). Still, when
microorganisms were used before, aerial biomass growth was stimulated (384.17 g) even when nematodes
were present in the root system.
Keywords: microorganisms; nematodes; pitahaya.