Biological control of charcoal rot of sorghum by plant growth-promoting actinomycetes
Subramaniam Gopalakrishnan: ICRISAT
<div><em>Macrophomina phaseolina</em> <em>is one of the important pathogen of sorghum causing charcoal rot disease in post rainy season, particularly when there is a long spell of drought.</em> Nine strains of <em>Streptomyces</em> spp. (BCA-546, BCA-698, CAI-8, CAI-17, CAI-21, KAI-26, KAI-27, MMA-32 and SAI-13) and one strain of <em>Amycolatopsis</em> sp. (BCA-696), demonstrated previously to have potential for plant growth-promotion on sorghum and chickpea, were evaluated for their antagonistic potential against <em>M. phaseolina</em> by dual culture assay, secondary metabolite production assay and in greenhouse and field disease screen. All the ten strains of actinomycetes inhibited <em>M. phaseolina</em> both in dual culture as well as in secondary metabolite production assays, but only five of them (BCA-546, CAI-21, KAI-26, KAI-27 and MMA-32) were notable under greenhouse and field conditions when evaluated against sorghum charcoal rot using tooth pick method of inoculation; these strains significantly reduced the disease. This study indicates that the selected five <em>Streptomyces</em> strains, BCA-546, CAI-21, KAI-26, KAI-27 and MMA-32, have the potential to control charcoal rot disease in sorghum.</div>
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