In Kazakhstan, parasitic nematodes affect up to 35-40% of the harvest of sugar beets, potatoes and tomatoes. Until recently, сhemical nematicides were used to control nematode numbers but posed risks of toxicity to humans and animals, and their effectiveness decreased due to resistant nematodes. There is an urgent need to create alternative non-toxic plant protection products. Arthrobotrys oligospora is one of the most studied hyphomycete fungi that is used to create biological products against nematodes. In a laboratory experiment in a pot culture, the activity of Arthrobotrys predatory fungi against parasitic nematodes of the genus Meloidogyne was assessed when growing tomatoes of the «F1 Russian size» variety in a vermiculite/soil mixture. Physiological indicators of plant growth (stem length, number of leaves, stem and root weight) were used for analysis. To ensure the reliability of the obtained results of the activity of predatory fungi, the number of nematodes and the presence of colonies of native predatory fungi in the soil samples of the used variants post-experiment were taken into account. The length of stems, the number of leaves and the weight of roots and stems during the growing season changed within the experimental error. The most significant result was estimated by the number of live nematodes post-experiment. It was shown that when preparations of predatory fungi were added to the soil, the number of nematodes significantly decreased in all variants. Thus, the nematophagous activity of local predatory fungi of the genus Arthrobotrys in tomato cultivation has been proven.

The aim of the present research is the isolation and morphological and molecular–phenological identification of nematophagous fungi of Southern Kazakhstan for the production of effective bionematicides on their basis. Nematophagous fungi, which include nematode-trapping, ovicidal, endoparasitic, toxin-producing, and special substance-producing fungi, are among the most effective biological agents in controlling phytoparasitic nematodes. To isolate and characterize nematophagous fungi, soil samples were collected at 12 sites in three regions of Southern Kazakhstan. The samples were collected using the envelope method. The content of nematophagous fungi in the samples was determined using the standard surface sowing technique. The obtained strains of nematophagous fungi were identified. The attractive and nematophagous activity of the obtained fungal strains was determined by using standard methods. In experiments on the isolation and morphological identification of nematophagous fungi, the nematode species Meloidogyne incognita was used. Identification of the strains was carried out by the method of determining the direct nucleotide sequence of the region of the nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer, followed by determination of nucleotide identity with sequences deposited in the international GeneBank database. As a result, the following species of nematophagous fungi living in the soils of agricultural lands in Southern Kazakhstan were identified: Orbilia oligospora, Duddingtonia flagrans, Orbilia oligospora, and Arthrobotrys superba.