INCIDENCE OF PANTOEA AGGLOMERANS ASSOCIATED WITH BARNYARD GRASS (ECHINOCHLOA CRUSGALLI L.) IN PAKISTAN.

Weeds are reservoirs for the survival of pathogenic microorganisms and cause of spread of infectious disease of plants through vectors. To minimize the spread of bacteria to other host crops, proper characterization is required to suggest suitable control strategy. Survey was conduct in December 2015, leaf blight was observed on barnyard grass growing in surroundings of citrus orchards located in Lahore, Pakistan. Isolation of the bacterium on nutrient agar medium was performed and their characterization based on morphological and biochemical tests. 16S rRNA was amplified directly with primers 27F/1492R, cloned and sequenced. Sequences were blast in NCBI data base which showed 99% identity to P. agglomerans strain. A neighbor-joining tree was generated with reported bacterial strain that were most closely to isolated strain P. agglomerans (LT592133). Pathogenicity test was conducted on barnyard grass with bacterial suspensions having 1.5 × 108 CFU/ml in controlled conditions to confirm Koch's postulates. According to results this is first report on the incidence of Pantoea agglomerans on Barnyard grass in Pakistan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]