Effect of an Alltech soil health product on entomopathogenic nematodes, root-knot nematodes and on the growth of tomato plants in the greenhouse

An organic product that consists of proprietary blend of fermentation and plant extracts with micronutrients (ACS 5075, Alltech(®), Inc., Nicholasville, KY USA) was evaluated against four strains of entomopathogenic nematodes (EPN): Steinernema feltiae (SB12(1), a wild enviroCORE strain and a commercial form e-NEMA), Steinernema carpocapsae (e-NEMA), and Heterorhabditis bacteriophora. The effects on egg hatching and survival of root-knot nematodes (RKN) were also examined. The sensitivity to the product was tested by estimating mortality and survival of EPN infective juveniles (IJ) after 24-hr treatment with four different concentrations of product (4, 7, 8, and 10%) compared with the control in a 96-well plate. There was no significant difference in survival of IJ with 4% product compared to the control. A twofold reduction in survival was observed when the EPN were exposed to the product at 7%. A 10.5% RKN egg hatching was observed when RKN were exposed to 3% ACS 5075 concentration compared to 100% hatching in the untreated. A significant (p < 0.05) reduction in juvenile survival was observed at 0.5% treatment, however, it dropped to 0 when 1% and above was used for M. javanica. Juveniles did not survive with all treatment concentrations in the case of M. incognita. The improvement in tomato plant growth and development were also observed when plants were treated with 1 and 3% ACS 5075. The product shows potential as a sustainable soil health alternative causing no harm to beneficial nematodes (EPN) at concentrations below 4%, while is promising against plant parasitic nematodes (PPN) and toward plant growth promotion.