Efectos de control biológico y químico sobre nemátodo barrenador (Radopholus similis) en el cultivo de banano

Abstract

This research aimed to determine the effect of biological and chemical control on the banana stem nematode (Radopholus similis) in banana cultivation. Six treatments were evaluated: Bacillus subtilis (100 g/ha), Paecilomyces lilacinus (100 g/ha), P. lilacinus + B. subtilis (60+60 g/ha), P. lilacinus + Trichoderma harzianum (60+60 g/ha), the chemical nematicide Cadusafos (Rugby®) at 35 kg/ha, and an untreated control. The study was conducted using a Latin square experimental design with six treatments and six replicates, using banana plants in the pre-flowering stage. The variables evaluated were: R. similis population density, percentage of healthy roots, increase in pseudostem diameter and height, number of functional leaves in sequence, and number of buds ready to open. The results showed that the combined biological treatment of P. lilacinus + T. harzianum (treatment 4) reduced the population density of R. similis from 3083 to 1083 nematodes/100 g of root and exhibited the best morphological values: 91.67% healthy roots, 7.93 functional leaves, and 2.67 buds ready for budding. However, statistical analysis did not detect significant differences between treatments (Tukey, p > 0.05). Nevertheless, the results suggest that biological treatments, especially the combination of P. lilacinus and T. harzianum, represent a promising and sustainable alternative for managing R. similis in banana cultivation, although further studies with greater experimental power are needed to confirm their efficacy.