Biological Control of Sclerotium rolfsii, Causing Stem Rot of Groundnut by Pseudomonas cf. monteilii 9

In an attempt to develop effective biocontrol system for management of stem rot disease caused by Sclerotium rolfsii in groundnut, 11 Pseudomonas spp. isolated from rhizospheric soil, were evaluated for their antagonistic activity against Sclerotium rolfsii. A soil bacterium identified as, Pseudomonas cf. monteilii 9, showed highest antagonistic activity against Sclerotium rolfsii. In dual cultures, the Pseudomonas cf. monteilii 9 inhibited the Sclerotium rolfsii up to 94 % in terms of dry weight. Pseudomonas cf. monteilii 9 produced diffusible antibiotic, volatile metabolites, hydrogen cyanide and siderophore which affect Sclerotium rolfsii growth in vitro. This strain also produced a clear halo region on skim milk agar plates, indicating that it excretes protease which played vital role in inhibition of S. rolfsii. In pot assay for control of Sclerotium rolfsii, Pseudomonas cf. monteilii 9 treated seeds showed decrease in incidence of disease up to 45.45 to 66.67% in comparison to untreated seeds

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Not AvailableIndia launched National Agroforestry Policy on 10th February, 2014 which has the potential to substantially reduce poverty in rural India and revive wood based industry, besides integrating food production with environmental services. The policy is not only crucial to India’s ambitious goal of achieving 33 per cent forest and tree cover but also to mitigate GHG emissions from agriculture sector. Dynamic CO2FIXv3.1 model has been used to estimate the carbon sequestration potential (CSP) of existing agroforestry systems (AFS) for simulation period of 30 years in twenty six districts from ten selected states of India. The observed number of trees on farmers’ field in these districts varied from 1.81 to 204 per hectare with an average value of 19.44 trees per hectare. The biomass in the tree component varied from 0.58 to 48.50 Mg DM/ ha, whereas, the total biomass (tree and crop) ranged from 4.96 to 58.96 Mg DM ha-1. The soil organic carbon ranged from 4.28 to 24.13 Mg C / ha. The average estimated carbon sequestration potential of the AFS, representing varying edaphoclimatic conditions, on farmers field at country level was 0.21 Mg C / ha / year. At national level, existing AFS are estimated to mitigate 109.34 million tons CO2Not Availabl