Studies on biological control of Fusarium oxysporum form sp. Cicri

The aim of present investigation was to access severity of Fusarial wilt of chickpea in Nanded District of Maharashtra state, India and to develop an effective and ecofriendly seed dresser to control it. Frequent visits were made to collect the diseased plants along with soil samples from chickpea growing regions of Nanded, District during January-February, 2020. The pathogen was isolated from the diseased samples and pure culture were obtained using Coon's medium. The effect of different plant extracts on the growth of pathogen was studied in vitro. Similarly, antagonistic fungi like Trichoderma viride, Rhizopus stoionifer, Aureobasidium puiiulans and Aspergillus species were screened against the pathogen, Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. ciceri. From the results obtained during this study it was concluded that maximum disease incidences occurred in Ardhapur, Mukhed and Hadgaon bloks (Talukas). The aqueous and alcoholic plant extracts of Azadirachta indica and Curcuma tonga showed maximum inhibition in the growth of the pathogen. It is also evident that the antagonists like Trichoderma viride, Rhizopus stoionifer, Aureobasidium puiiulans, and some species of Aspergillus were found to be inhibitory against F. oxysporum f sp. ciceri. Seed treatment with the leaves of Neem and Ipomea were found to be more inhibitory to the pathogen.