Biocontrol Potential of Drought tolerant Rhizospheric bacteria Isolated from Stressed Ecosystems against Dry Root Rot of Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) Caused by Rhizoctonia bataticola

Drought is regarded as one of the major constraint in the productivity of crop plants around the world. Application of drought tolerant bacteria mitigating the effect of drought would be a novel approach in this regard. In the present study, the effect of Bacillus sp. BHU 08 was observed on growth promotion and disease suppression in chickpea. The treatment T8 (Bacillus sp. BHU 08) shows the highest value of morpho-physiological parameters that were observed at 30, 60 and 90 DAS. Application of Bacillus sp. BHU 08 induced accumulation of high level of phenol, proline, activities of PAL, SOD and catalase in chickpea plants when compared with its control. The treatment T7 recorded the highest value of all these enzymes at different hours after the pathogen challenge that varied from 48–72 h which then declined. Increased levels of these plant defense enzymes upon pathogen attack suggests that the ISR and SAR mechanism of the plant gets initiated and thus it will trigger a defense response in the host. These antioxidant enzymes quench the toxic reactive oxygen species and in turn protects the plant from oxidative damage. PAL activity precedes rapid recognition of a microbial invader which potentiates the accumulation of disease resistance factors including phenolics, phytoalexins and lignin. An increase in lignification is often observed in response to the attack by pathogen and is believed to represent one of the chief mechanisms adopted to block pathogen invasion due to its highly non-degradable and antimicrobial nature.

Bacillus sp. BHU 08 effectively enhanced plant growth promotion under stress condition.

Bacillus sp. BHU 08 proved to be effective in managing dry root rot of chickpea.