Journal of Advances in Biology & Biotechnology

Chickpea production can be compromised by the combined occurrence of the root-knot nematode Meloidogyne incognita and the wilt pathogen Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. ciceri. To compare biological interventions for this disease complex, a microplot trial was undertaken at Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat, from November 2019 to March 2020. The K850 variety was cultivated in 1 m × 1 m plots under a randomised block design comprising seven treatments, each replicated four times. The treatments consisted of microbial consortia applied to seed, microbial consortia enriched in vermicompost, Glomus fasciculatum, combinations of these interventions, a chemically treated control and an untreated control. Assessments covered growth and yield, root galls and egg masses, soil nematode and fungal populations, and disease incidence. The three-component biological combination gave the greatest shoot length (76.92 cm), fresh shoot weight (33.23 g) and yield (1.23 kg per plot); the corresponding untreated values were 55.86 cm, 12.24 g and 1.03 kg per plot. For this combination, gall number (40.41), egg-mass number (22.99), final nematode abundance (130.56 per 250 cm³ soil) and disease incidence (51.66%) were the lowest observed. These measures reached 246.88, 86.85, 268.46 and 89.99%, respectively, without treatment. Thus, the combined biological approach performed favourably in the conditions examined, although its applicability requires confirmation through broader field assessment.