The deleterious effect of salinity and root-knot nematodes on sweet pepper is enormous. A screenhouse experiment was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of three arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) in alleviating adverse effects of salinity and M. incognita on sweet pepper. A 2 × 3 × 4 factorial experiment was laid out in a completely randomized design with three replications. The 24-treatment combinations were three mycorrhizal fungi (Glomus mosseae, Glomus deserticola, and Gigaspora gigantea), an uninoculated control, three salinity levels (0.16, 3.24, and 6.06 dS/m), and inoculation either with or without 5,000 eggs of M. incognita. The results showed that sweet pepper variety Tatase was highly susceptible to M. incognita infection with heavy galls on nonmycorrhizal plants. Nematode inoculation and salinity significantly (P ≤ 0.05) impaired growth, AMF root colonization, and dry matter production compared with the control plants. Increase in salinity level significantly (P ≤ 0.05) reduced root galling and egg mass production. AMF inoculation significantly (P ≤ 0.05) reduced root galling and significantly enhanced growth and dry matter yield in the presence or absence of nematode infection at all salinity levels compared with the nonmycorrhizal plants. Among the AMF species, G. deserticola was the most efficient in ameliorating the injurious effects of salt and M. incognita.
Key words: Salt, Glomus spp, Pepper, Stress amelioration, Root-knot nematode
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