Bioinoculants and AM fungus colonized nursery improved management of complex root disease of Coleus forskohlii Briq. under field conditions

Abstract

Nursery treatment with efficient microbial inoculants, using vermicompost as rooting medium, is not popular technique and underutilized for the management of complex root diseases (involved phyto-pathogens: Fusarium, Ralstonia and Meloidogyne) of Coleus forskohlii. To find a probable profound solution of the above problem we designed an experiment to study the potential of efficient bioinoculants and AM fungus as nursery treatment, where the vermicompost was added as rooting and microbial inoculants multiplying medium, for effective management of complex root disease of C. forskohlii for higher root yield, forskolin content and also to sustain the health of soil. Nursery (cuttings of C. forskohlii) treated with efficient microbial inoculants Pseudomonas monteilii (PM) and Glomus intraradices (GI) showed maximum control efficacy for root-rot/wilt (complex disease) of C. forskohlii and improved the growth, yield attributes and also the content of forskolin in the plants. The efficient bioinoculant P. monteilii (strain CRC1) and AM fungus (G. intraradices) thus proved to be a potent/novel antagonist and can be better utilised for biological management of complex root disease of C. forskohlii under organic field conditions.