Field Evaluation of Two Bacterial Antagonists, Pseudomonas putida (PDBCAB 19) and P. fluorescens (PDBCAB 2) against Wilt and Root-Rot of Chickpea

Talc based formulations of two antagonistic bacteria viz., Pseudomonas putida (PDBCAB 19) and P. fluorescens (PDBCAB 2) were evaluated against natural incidences of wilt and wet ischolar_main-rot of chickpea. Observations on rhizoclonia ischolar_main-rot incidence indicated that the disease was prevalent up to 60 days of plant growth whereas fusarial wilt was observed from 60 days. At 30th day. highest ischolar_main-rot incidence (10.8%) was observed in pathogen control plots and minimum was in fungicide treated plots (3.1 %). P. fluorescens (PDBCAB 2) treated plots also exhibited low ischolar_main-rot (4.4%). However, at day 60 lowest ischolar_main-rot incidence (5%) was recorded in P. fluorescens (PDBCAB 2) treated plots and highest ischolar_main-rot incidence (13.9%) was observed in pathogen control. Low ischolar_main-rot incidence (5.8%) was also noticed in P. putida (PDBCAB 19) treated plots. Fusarium wilt was lowest (3.3%) in P. putida (PDBCAB 19) treated and highest (13.3 %) in control plots at day 90. Combination of both P. fluorescens (PDBCAB 2) and P. putida (PDBCAB 19) exhibited suppression of ischolar_main-rot and wilt incidences by 5.8 and 7.5 per cent, respectively. Highest plant stand and seed yield was observed in P. fluorescens (PDBCAB 2) treated plots. There were no significant differences in the shoot and ischolar_main lengths among bioagent treatments, however, vigour index was highest in plots treated with a combination of P. fluorescens (PDBCAB 2) and P. putida (PDBCAB 19).