Efficacy of Bioagents against Sclerotinia Rot of Chickpea Incited by Sclerotinia sclerotiorum.

Background: Sclerotinia sclerotiorum (Lib.) de Barry is a soil-borne plant pathogen, capable of infecting more than 500 host plants worldwide. It is a major pathogen that plays a crucial role in reducing the yield of economically important crops. Sclerotinia rot also known as stem rot or white mold, caused by Sclerotinia sclerotiorum is a serious disease of chickpea. Methods: The antagonistic potential of four bioagents i.e. Trichoderma harzianum (Th-BKN), Trichoderma viride (Tv-BKN), Pseudomonas fluorescens (Pf-BKN) and Bacillus subtilis (Bs- BKN) were isolated from chickpea rhizospheric soil. The fungal bioagents were tested for their antagonistic potential against the pathogen in vitro by modified dual culture technique on potato dextrose agar (PDA) medium. While bacterial antagonists tested for their antagonistic potential against the pathogen in vitro by paper disc inoculation technique on Nutrient Agar (NA) and Pseudomonas Agar Fluorescens (PAF) media. Each treatment was replicated four times, incubated at 23±10°C, data on the antagonistic activity of different bioagents were recorded and per cent inhibition was calculated for each antagonist. Result: The fungal antagonists T. harzianum (Th-BKN) resulted in maximum growth inhibition of the pathogen (70.48%) and bacterial antagonists, Pseudomonas fluorescens (Pf-BKN) (37.56%) was more effective than the Bacillus subtilis (Bs- BKN). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]