Management of bacterial wilt of tomato through consortium of biocontrol agents

Abstract

Bacterial wilt of tomato, caused by Ralstonia solanacearum, is a very serious disease of tomato which causes huge economic losses year after year. R. solanacearum is a phytopathogenic bacterium that colonizes the xylem vessels of host plants leading to a lethal wilt disease. Bacterial wilt disease is very difficult to manage through traditional disease management practices. In the present study, three biocontrol agents namely Bacillus subtilis, Pseudomonas flourescens and Trichoderma viride, either alone or in combination, were used to study their effect for the management of bacterial wilt disease in sick pots of pathogen. It was found that application of consortium of both B. subtilis and T. viride along with neem cake and molasses completely hold off the disease and no disease incidence was observed. It was followed by application of Bacillus subtilis as seedling dip with foliar spray after 7 days of transplanting with 35.55 per cent disease incidence compared to 82.22 per cent disease incidence in un-treated control. Maximum plant weight of 1.5 g observed with application of consortium of biocontrol agents before transplanting and application of Bacillus subtilis as seedling dip with foliar spray after 7 days of transplanting. However, maximum plant height of 19.0 cm was observed with application of consortium as drenching after five days of transplanting.