Tomato germplasm was screened against root knot nematode (Meloidogyne spp.). Tomato resistance was enhanced by the application of elicitors i.e., salicylic acid (SA) and benzothiadiazole (BTH). Germplasms was collected from NARC Islamabad, Pakistan and grown in glass house conditions of Zhejiang University. All accessions of tomato showed varying response. Tomato plants showed susceptibility to M. incognita in terms of total number of galls, total number of egg masses, root weight and shoot weight. Out of nine accessions of tomato, only two accessions showed moderately susceptible response and four accession viz., numbers 19865, 19888, 19860 and 19856 were considered highly susceptible (HS) while remaining all cultivars showed susceptible response. One HS accession of tomato (19860) was selected and application of SA and BTH was done at different concentrations that showed moderately response against Meloidogyne incognita when SA was applied as drench @ 10 mg/L and BTH was applied @ 100 mg/L as drench. Results of enzymatic activities in treated and control plants of tomato with the varying concentrations of SA and BTH showed promising results. The enzymatic antioxidants activity was found to be increased in response to infection of the pathogen. SA and BTH played a significant role in inducing resistance in tomato plants against M. incognita.

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