Evaluation of Microbial Antagonists for the Management of Wilt/Root Rot and Damping-off Diseases in Chilli (Capsicum annuum)

The present study was aimed to assess wilt and root rot/damping off prevalence in chilli (Capsicum annuum) in Kashmir and to examine the potential of various bio-agents in manage-ment of these diseases. Survey was carried out in three districts of Kashmir viz., Pulwama, Budgam and Srinagar during the year 2013. The damping off and wilt/root rot incidence in chilli growing areas varied from 7 to 36 and 10 to 54%, respec-tively with highest disease incidence in district Pulwama and lowest in district Srinagar. The pathogens responsible for wilt/root rot were Rhizotonia solani, Sclerotium rolfsii, Fusarium solani, F. oxysporium, F. pallidoroseum and Phy-tophthora capsici. Pythium sp. was observed to be the incitant of damping off. Fifteen isolates of Trichoderma species and 2 isolates of Pseudo-monas fluorescens and Bacilus sp. each were isolated locally and evaluated against above pathogens (except P. capsici) in vitro. Trichoder-ma viride isolate TK1, T. harzianum isolate TK8, Pseudomonas fluorescens isolate Ps1 and Bacil-lus sp. isolate B1 were most effective in inhibit-ing the mycelia growth of pathogens. In vivo wilt/root rot disease management through use of effective bioagents revealed that all the four biocontrol agents, used individually or in combi-nation, significantly improved seed germination (62.7–76.3%) as against control (57.7%). The fun-gicide treatment of 2-(methoxycarbamoylamino)-benzimidazole (carbendazim 50 WP) had less damping-off incidence of 2% as against 6.0 to 13.7% in bioagent treatments and 18.7% in con-trol. Similarly, wilt/root rot was significantly re-duced in bioagent or chemical treatments than control.