Efficacy of native bio-agents against sclerotium rolfsii sacc. causingfoot rot of finger millet

ABSTRACT

Finger millet is one of the important millet crops widely cultivated across India. Although, it is known to be one of the hardiest crops, is affected by many diseases, of which foot rot caused by Sclerotiumrolfsiihas been on the rise especially under irrigated and high rainfall situations.Nine Trichoderma spp. and 10 Pseudomonas spp. isolated from cultivated soils of Mandya, Karnataka, india were screened in in-vitro against S.rolfsii. Among the bio-agents Chandagaluisolate (CT) of Trichoderma and Kannahatty isolate (KP) of Pseudomonas were found to be very effective in suppressing the foot rot of finger millet in susceptible variety Indaf-5. These two potential bio-agents when tested in different delivery methods under greenhouse conditions, seedling root dip followed by soil application of Trichoderma (CT) and Pseudomonas (KP) were significantly superior over other methods in reducing foot rot incidence, besides enhancing seedling growth parameters and grain yield.