SUMMARY
Native strains of Pseudomonas fluorescens were isolated from the rhizosphere of banana and tested for their efficacy to control Meloidogyne incognita infesting banana. Among the 24 isolates of P. fluorescens tested, isolates PfB 22, PfB 23, PfB 21, PfB 17 and PfB 2 did not inhibit germination and enhanced the vigour index of rice under roll towel and pot culture conditions. In vitro, the greatest reduction in nematode egg hatch and the greatest mortality of M. incognita were observed in the culture filtrate of PfB 22 at 100% concentration. In the experiments conducted under glasshouse conditions, plants treated with P. fluorescens PfB 22 grew significantly better than untreated plants. Nematode infestations were reduced in all the treated plants both in soil and roots, with the least number of adult females, number of egg masses, number of eggs per egg mass and gall index of M. incognita in plants treated with PfB 22.