Wood-associated fungi produce volatile organic compounds toxic to root-knot nematode

ABSTRACT Since volatiles do not leave residues in food and cause low toxicity to humans, they can act as a skeleton for new nematicidal molecules, once they have demonstrated activity against phytonematodes. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) released by wood-associated fungi on controling second-stage juveniles (J2) of Meloidogyne incognita. All 28 wood-associated fungi isolates produced VOCs which caused in excess of 76 % immobility in exposed J2 of M. incognita. The fungus isolate VOCs also caused significant mortality compared to control w...