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Study was conducted to select potential antagonistic rhizobacteria for the management of bacterial wilt in eggplant. Sixteen rhizobacterial isolates were selected based on their inhibition efficiency against R. solanacearum. Among the selected isolates, 75 percent belonged to species of Pseudomonas, which was clustered into five phylogeny groups based on biochemical tests. Efficiency of disease suppression was tested in vivo under greenhouse conditions. The lowest wilt incidence (13.3%) was recorded in RC24 (P. putida) followed by RBh1 (B. sublitis- 20.0%). From the 16 isolates, eight were selected and tested for their efficacy in the field conditions by soil drenching in one month-old transplanted eggplants using talc based formulation. Though antagonist treatments reduced disease incidence, the biocontrol efficiency was less than 36 per cent. This indicates that the biocontrol treatments to be started right from sowing or planting. Al l the selected antagonists produced I ndole Acetic Acid and siderophores, which are responsible for plant growth promotion and few of them produced 2, 4-diacetyl phloroglucinal, an antifungal antibiotic, indicating that these rhizobacteria would be highly effective to control R. solani when applied at right time.
