Bioefficacy of rhizospheric fungal isolates against wilt and root-rot pathogens of Pea

Abstract

Pea (Pisum sativum) is an important leguminous crop in many countries including India. Wilt and root rot of pea is an important and widespread disease that often causes significant reduction in the yield and quality of harvested peas throughout the production areas. It is the most important and widespread disease of pea grown in relatively dry and warm area. In-vitro effectiveness of various antagonistic fungal isolates namely T. harzianum (Th1, Th2, Th3, Th4 and Th5) was evaluated against Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. pisi, Rhizoctonia solani and Pythium ultimum by dual culture technique on potato dextrose agar. According to the observation recorded after 5 days, all the rhizospheric fungal isolates evaluated for their antagonistic potential against wilt and root-rot pathogens, exhibited significant effect on radial growth inhibition of pathogens in comparison to control. Among the fungal isolates, Th3 and Th5 of T. harzianum proved to be most effective in reducing the growth of F. oxysporum f. sp. pisi, R. solani and P. ultimum. It was worthy to note that all rhizospheric fungal isolates visualized an increase in their antagonistic potential over the period of time in subsequent hours of inoculation.