EXPLOITING RHIZOBIUM, AZOTOBACTER, AZOSPIRILLUM ANDACETOBACTER BACTERIA AS BIO-FUNGICIDE AGAINST WILTCAUSING FUNGIKHEMESHWAR, DAYASHANKAR BAGHEL, KISHAN KUMAR RAJ,S.B. GUPTA AND RAVINDRA SONIAbstract The current study was carried out at the Department of Agricultural Microbiology, College ofAgriculture, Raipur, C.G., during the years 2021â2022. This study was set up with the general objective ofinvestigating the interaction between Fusarium and plant nutrient mobilizing bacterial isolates namelyRhizo-L3, Rhizo-L4, Azoto-MW15, Azoto-Palak16, Azos-Palak13, Azos-Palak17, Aceto-Root18 and Aceto-RD15. These isolates were selected and tested to control wilt disease causing fungi. In this connection, theseisolates were tested for different biochemical parameters viz.starch hydrolysis, catalase, urease, oxidase testetc. Further these isolates were evaluated for their ability to inhibit the mycelial biomass of wilt causingfungi Fusarium oxysporium and Sclerotium rolfsii in modified Martin broth and agar media. Results show thatthe maximum growth inhibition of Fusarium oxysporium (83.62%) Azoto-MW15 + Azoto-Palak16 exhibitedfollowed by mixed cultures of Rhizo-L3 and Rhizo- L4 (79.40%), Aceto-RD15 + Aceto-Root18 (74.39 %) andAzos-Palak13 + Azos-Palak17 (72.99 %), while, in plate assay with Sclerotium rolfsii also showed inhibitionof 56.44%, 53.19% and 52.21 % respectively. |