* Deptt. of Floriculture and Landscaping, UHF Nauni, Solan, Himachal Pradesh.
** Deptt. of Fruit Breeding and Genetic Resources, UHF Nauni, Solan, Himachal Pradesh.
Deptt of Basic Sciences, Dr. Y.S. Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, Solan-173 230, Himachal Pradesh
Online published on 15 September, 2011.
Fluorescent Pseudomonas were isolated from the rhizosphere of carnation and medicinal plants on King's media, Pseudomonas agar and nutrient agar to select best plant growth promoting indigenous novel bacteria. Ten to eleven strains of fluorescent Pseudomonas sp. were isolated from medicinal plants i.e. Achyranthes aspera L., Heracleum candicans Wall. and Elaeagnus umbellate Thunb. and from the carnation. They were selected on the basis of pigment production and exhibiting fluorescence under UV light. All the isolates were screened out for production of direct and indirect plant growth promoting activities viz. antifungal, antibacterial, siderophores, phosphate solubilization, ammonia, HCN, auxins, and lytic enzymes. Maximum production of biological activities was observed in stationary phase of growth i.e. at 72 h of incubation period under shake conditions at 30°C. In field; Pseudomonas strains (MC and PS-2) were found to be highly influential on the growth of carnation under polyhouse conditions. They significantly increased the height of carnation and affected the other flower parameters like days of bud formation, flowering period besides increasing the diameter, weight and yield of flower per plant.
