Biocontrol potentialities of native Pseudomonas isolates of Himachal Pradesh against plant pathogenic fungi Dematophora sp., Fusarium sp., Pythium sp. and Sclerotium sp. of apple rhizosphere

Abstract

Twenty indigenous fluorescent pseudomonads were isolated from the replant sites of apple from three district of Himachal Pradesh i.e. Chamba, Kullu and Mandi. The research work was carried out with the aim to characterize Pseudomonas sp. biochemically and study biocontrol potential against different plant pathogens i.e. Dematophora sp., Fusarium sp., Pythium sp. and Sclerotium sp. Among the isolates tested, Ar-3-Nag showed maximum % inhibition against Dematophora sp., Fusarium sp. and Sclerotium sp. i.e. 37.5, 34.20 and 45.71 respectively. Against Pythium sp. maximum % inhibition was showed by An-5-Kul i.e. 37.5%. Five isolates i.e. An-4-Kul, An-5-Kul, An-11-Kul, Ar-3-Nag and PN-6-San showed inhibition of mycelial growth against all four fungus pathogens. The result shows that these Pseudomonas isolates were very effective biocontrol agents and should be exploited for biocontrol applications.