Biocontrol of Ear Rot Fungi By Plant Growth Promoting Fluorescent Pseudomonads

Abstract

In India, maize is the third most important food crop after rice and wheat but the productivity is severely affected as the plant is also prone to a number of diseases caused by fungi and bacteria. Ear rot caused by <italic>Fusarium moniliforme</italic> is one of the economically important soil and seed borne disease of maize and not easily controlled by chemical methods. Antagonistic bacteria may constitute an alternative for improving the crop productivity. In this study 13 fluorescent pseudomonads were isolated from rhizosphere of different plants and screened for plant growth promoting activities and biocontrol potential against <italic>F. moniliforme</italic> ITCC No. 2193. Among them a potential isolate, W3Gr-6(b) not only inhibited growth of <italic>F. moniliforme</italic> under in-vitro conditions but was also capable of maize growth promotion in presence of pathogen.