Effect of bioagents against Colletotrichum capsici on seed quality of chilli

Species of Trichoderma varied in their antagonistic potential against Colletotrichum capsici in vitro. Pure cultures of Pseudomonas fluorescens and Trichoderma viride at the rate of 1’ 10⁸ cfu g⁻¹ and their talc based formulations 28’ 10⁷ cfu g⁻¹ and 19’ 10⁷ cfu g⁻¹) at the rate of 5 g kg⁻¹ and 10 g kg⁻¹ of seed were used for seed treatment. The treated seeds were evaluated for per cent reduction of C. capsici seed germination, vigour index. It was found that the maximum control of the disease was obtained by seed treatment with pure culture of P. fluorescens + T. viride followed by seed treatment with pure culture of P. fluorescens and T. harzianum. Seed treatment with pure culture of P. fluorescens and pure culture of T. viride recorded higher yield fruit characters such as fruit length and fruit weight However none was better than fungicide carbendazim at 2g kg⁻¹ seeds.