Isolation of pythium species from damping off affected onion rhizospheric soil, using baiting technique

Abstract

Moist rhizospheric soil samples were collected from several spots within the same field of damping off affected onion crop field, grown in Udaipur district of Rajasthan. French bean and bottle gourd were used as bait. French bean was transversely cut into 2-3 pieces and bottle gourd was cut into several slices and buried well into the infested soil at a depth of 4-5 cm. The soil was slightly moistened by sprinkling small quantity of water. Clear fungal mycelium growth appeared after 24 hour on the bait was aseptically transferred to potato dextrose agar (PDA) media and pure cultures were prepared by using hyphal tip method.