Isolation of potential biosurfactant bacteria from railway diesel engine yard soil, its PCR detection and antifungal activity Rhizoctonia solanI of potato

Environmental factors force us to focus on new sustainable eco-friendly approaches such as microbial antagonists for the momagemont of soil-borne pathogens, therefore soil samples were collected near Shakurbasti diesel engine shed yard, New Delhi and novel biosurfactant bacteria obtained were screened, isolated and processed. Out of 10 SKNDLS (1–10) bacteria, only SKNDLS-08 isolate was grown on GSP agar, MacConkey agar as well as on Pseudomonas agar plates that was identified as putative Pseudomonas spp. and exhibited positive biosurfactant activity through different screening methods i.e. penetration assay, oil displacement (+1.7cm), hemolytic activity (>2cm) and EI24 (80%), positive blue plate agar plate (>2.5cm), modified drop collapse method. The SKNDLS-08 isolate inhibited 44.91%±0.10 of Rhizoctonia solani mycelial growth within 72h of post inoculation under vitro test and at 3% conc. of culture filtrate in food poisoning assay. PCR detection with Pseudomonas genus (PA-30, 618bp) as well species-specific (PA-31, 956bp) primers confirms the identity as Pseudomonas aeruginosa. SKNDLS-08 isolate is an interesting bacterium to investigate for the genes involved in secondary metabolite production in other diseases management applications in agriculture research.