Control of Meloidogyne paranaensis in coffee plants mediated by silicon

Coffee plants are considerably affected by the presence of Meloidogyne spp. and management is based in the use of resistant rootstocks. Systemic induced resistance could constitute an option to manage Meloidogyne paranaensis in coffee-growing areas. Coffee seedlings cv. Mundo Novo were treated with silicate before the inoculation of M. paranaensis to evaluate the potential control of this pathogen. We found, 120 days after the inoculation of 2000 eggs, that the application of silicate was effective to reduce the nematode population, based on reproduction factor and number of nematodes per g roots. Based on the present results, we suggest that the application of silicon constitutes an important alternative for the management of M. paranaensis in infested coffee-growing areas. Further studies are necessary to clarify the biochemical and molecular relationships between M. paranaensis and coffee in the presence of silicon.