MOLECULAR IDENTIFICATION OF NEW ISOLATIONS OF BACILLUS SPP. AND ITS EFFECT ON MELOIDOGYNE INCOGNITA ON TOMATO PLANT

This study was conducted in the Molecular biology Laboratory of Plant Protection Department at College of Agriculture, Kufa University to isolate and identify three types of bacteria isolated from tomato in Najaf province in Iraq. Isolation was including Bacillus firmus, B. cereus; B. simplex diagnosed using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique. The study also revealed that the infection severity was root-knot nematodes alone compared with other treatments that interacted with Bacillus firmus, B. cereus and B. simplex and compared to control treatment. In addition, the study of the interaction between the Bacillus spp. and the root-knot nematode showed improving in plant growth indicators compared to control treatment and root knot nematode alone. In addition, the interaction treatment between the Bacillus spp. and the nematodes of root complexity gave different effect with two types of varieties of tomato plant. Results showed that ASW variety had effect on root-knot nematode compared to ALA variety and there was no significant effect on plant growth with Bacillus spp. application for reducing nematode development.