Loading...
Theses
Browse
109 results
Search Results
ThesisItem Open Access Distribution and characterization of Burkholderia species causing panicle blight in paddy and its management(G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar - 263145 (Uttarakhand), 2019-09) Sudha Nandni; Vishunavat, KarunaThe bacterial panicle blight of rice is an important bacterial disease which was identified for the first time at Pantnagar in the year 2010-2011, at field though, in low incidences and sporadically. Bacterial panicle blight (BPB) caused by Burkholderia glumae, is an emerging disease which has recently come out as a menace in rice-growing areas of northern India. Considering the importance of crop and continuous spread of the disease, present research was initiated to decipher the prevalence and characterization of the Burkholderia sp. in different regions of northern India and its management strategies during the year 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 at GBPUA&T., Pantnagar. The findings observed under the present investigation are summarized as follows. Symptomatic and asymptomatic seeds and infected plant parts collected from different geographical regions of northern India mostly, including states viz. - Uttarakhand, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Assam exhibited symptoms of BPB on infected leaf, leaf sheath, base of boot leaf and panicles. A total of 28 bacterial isolates were recovered out of which only 21 isolates were found pathogenic on rice under glass house conditions. Colony characters revealed that 6 different coloured colonies viz. - White (glistening), Creamy white (smooth), Creamy (smooth), Creamy yellow (smooth), Pale yellow and (smooth), Shiny yellow (flattened) were present among the isolates. Biochemical studies revealed that the pathogenic isolates were positive for gelatin liquefaction, KOH Solubility and catalase test while negative for starch hydrolysis, oxidase reaction and arginine dihydrolase test. Molecular characterization of the isolates on the basis of their 16S rDNA sequences confirmed that (14) Burkholderia glumae, (5) B. gladioli and (2) B. plantarii were recovered from the infected samples and thus, showed the prevalence of different Burkholderia sp. causing BPB in the regions of northern India. Under the oil immersion lens of compound microscope (100X) through gram staining the bacterial isolates were found to be gram negative absorbing red colour of the counter stain and rod shaped with round ends. The bacterium was found to be seed-borne. Maximum recovery 93% of the bacterium was recorded from the freshly harvested lot which was gradually reduced to 26% after one year of storage under normal laboratory conditions (14-30°C). Twenty- two paddy varieties were screened for BPB resistance out of which early maturing varieties (105-125 days) Pant Dhan-11, Pant Dhan-16 and Pant Dhan-12, mid maturing varieties (120-130 days) Pant Dhan-19, Pant Dhan-10 and Pant Dhan-28 and late maturing varieties (130-140 days) Pant Dhan-18, Pant Basmati-2, Pant Sugandh Dhan-15, Pant Basmati-1 and Pant Sugandh Dhan-25 exhibited moderate resistant reaction while rest others showed moderate susceptible or susceptible reaction towards the pathogen. In vitro screening of antibiotics at five different concentrations against B. glumae exhibited that the 100 ppm concentration of all the antibiotics were most effective. The minimum disease incidence and disease severity was in copper oxychloride and Copper oxychloride + Norfloxacin.ThesisItem Open Access Variability and management of Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. lentis causing wilt of lentil(G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar - 263145 (Uttarakhand), 2019-08) Arya, Anshul; Kushwaha, K.P.S.Lentil (Lens culinaris Medic.) is one of the oldest annual grain legumes consumed and cultivated in the world. The origin of lentil is South West Asia. India is the second largest producer of lentil after Canada. Wilt disease of lentil, caused by the soil and seed-borne fungus Fusarium oxysporum Schlecht.emend.Snyder &Hansen f.sp. lentis Vasudeva & Srinivasan is one of the most severe and prominent diseases of the lentil. The continuous prevalence of this disease makes it most important to manage during lentil cultivation. The present investigation was undertaken to study prevalence of wilt in selected lentil growing areas of Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh. The morphological and molecular characters of the twenty-two pathogen isolates were studied along with the evaluation of ecofriendly management practices viz; Botanicals, Animal Products, Bioagents, Oils, Medicinal Mushrooms, Spent Mushroom Compost, Synthetic Defense Inducers, fungicides, and host resistance against the pathogen under in vitro and in vivo conditions during the Rabi season 2016-17 and 2017-18. The prevalence of the wilt disease was 100 percent along with a maximum 25 percent of disease incidence in all twenty-two lentil growing areas surveyed. The fungal pathogen and its isolates were isolated on the PDA medium from roots of infected plants showing peculiar disease symptoms like yellowing, withering, and drying. After morphological identification of the fungal pathogen, isolates were further genetically identified through the universal primers ITS1 and ITS4, as Fusarium oxysporum and accession no. MK452341 was obtained for the Pantnagar isolates from NCBI. Variation in pathogenic behavior of the isolates was also observed under glasshouse conditions and isolates were categorized as highly and extremely pathogenic in their behavior. Huge variation in the morphological characteristics of the isolates was observed based on the cultural growth, pigmentation, size, and shape of conidia. At the molecular level twenty-two isolates of the pathogen with ISSR (8 primers) and SSR (5 primers) primers showed significant genetical variation with 100 percent polymorphism. PIC value for the different ISSR primers was ranged from 0.65 to 0.93 and the PIC value for the SSR primers varied from 0.68 to 0.87 that showed high level of genetical variability among the isolates. The leaf extracts of Bael and Eucalyptus were found highly significant to inhibit the pathogen growth as well as reducing the disease incidence at 30 percent concentration under in vitro and in vivo conditions. The phytochemical Eucalyptol and 1,2 Diisopropenylcyclobutane were found responsible for the antifungal activity of the plant extracts of Eucalyptus and Bael, respectively, through GCMS analysis. Among the screened animal products, cow urine with 20 percent was performed best under in vitro and in vivo conditions. Badri cow urine was found superior over Sahiwal urine and gave 100 percent inhibition in the radial growth of pathogen, at 20 percent concentration under in vitro conditions. Seed treatment with cow urine was found an effective method for management of the disease in field conditions. The induction of defense-related enzymes PAL and Catalase were found maximum at 48 hours with 7 percent concentration of Badri cow urine. Panchgavya at 15 percent concentration gave 100 percent inhibition in the radial growth of the pathogen under in vitro condition. Induction of defense-related enzymes PAL and Catalase at 3 percent concentration of panchgavya was observed at 24 hours after challenged inoculation. Seed treatment with 5 percent concentration of panchagvya showed minimum disease incidence. Trichoderma harzianum (Strain Th14) gave 70 percent inhibition in the radial growth of the pathogen. PB3 at 1.0 percent induced the defense-related enzymes PAL, PO, PPO and catalase at 48 hours after challenged inoculation of the pathogen. The seed treatment with PB-2 @ 6g/kg seed and PB-2 at 0.5 percent concentration was found most suitable for soil drenching. The medicinal mushrooms (Ganoderma lucidum) was also found effective in inhibiting the radial growth of the pathogen and seed treatment with 30 percent extract of Ganoderma lucidum was showed minimum disease incidence. Mustard oil at 20 percent concentration inhibited the radial growth of pathogen under in vitro condition as well as 20ml/kg seed of it decreased the disease incidence under in vivo conditions. Application of 25 ton/ ha of Spent Mushroom Compost in the field was found effective in managing the disease. SA at 0.03 percent was found most effective in inducing the defense-related enzymes PAL, PO, PPO, and Catalase under glasshouse condition. Seed treatment with a combination of SA and BTH (1:1) at 0.1 percent concentration was found best for reducing the disease incidence. Tebuconazole was found most effective in reducing the radial growth (100% inhibition) of the pathogen under in vitro conditions at 0.05 percent concentration. Seed treatment with Tebuconazole or Propiconazole at the rate of 0.1 percent was found most effective in managing the disease under field condition. Germplasms, DL16-5, DL16-7, VL152, IPL339, IPL340, PL237, RL7-3, RVL15-5, IPL227, IPL338, IPL332 were found highly resistant against the wilt disease of lentil. These germplasms can be utilized for the cultivation of lentil crop and also in the resistance breeding program as the donor parent.ThesisItem Open Access Pathotype variation of Albugo candida, the cause of white rust disease in rapeseed-mustard(G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar - 263145 (Uttarakhand), 2019-09) Dev, Devanshu; Tewari, A.K.White rust disease of rapeseed-mustard is one of the most important disease which severely affects production and productivity of the crop. The obligate and high variable nature of the pathogen poses a challenge for the eco-friendly management of the disease. A limited work has been done in India/world on the variability of this pathogen. So, present investigation has been done on the pathotype variability of A. candida based on molecular, morphological and pathogenic characterization of 33 A. candida isolates belongs to 12 different states of India and from 09 Brassica spp. Molecular characterization using 12 SSR markers, among them 05 viz. DM 3, DM 16, DM 22, M31 and Pv65 showed high polymorphism. Molecular characterization using ITS and COX2 gene yielded 1250bp and 650bp band respectively and maximum parsimony tree showed 15 and 13 cluster from 33 A. candida isolates respectively. Morphological characterization based on the shape of sporangia, 33 A. candida isolates were categorized in 03 groups viz. globose, ovoid and irregular while based on size, isolates were grouped in Microsporangia (14-17μm), Mesosporangia (17.10-20μm) and Macrosporangia (>20μm) with largest size (22μm) of sporangia in Ac-Smr (Sirmaur, HP) and smallest (14.63μm) in Ac-Knp (Kanpur, UP). Based on pustule pattern on B. juncea cv. Varuna, isolates were categorized in 05 groups viz. Separate circular; Coalesced circular, Scattered and pin head; Restricted near veins and veinlets and Restricted near veins and veinlets separate or coalesced circular type pustules. On the basis of virulence on 19 Brassica genotypes, 33 A. candida isolates were categorized into 04 different groups viz. highly virulent, virulent, moderately virulent and least virulent. On the basis of aggressiveness, isolates were categorized into 04 different groups viz. highly aggressive, aggressive, moderately aggressive and least aggressive. Based on the cross infectivity on different Brassica spp., isolates were grouped in 19 different pathotypes. Based on the B. juncea cultivar (out of 7) and on different Brassica spp. 03 major groups has been identified viz. Group Ia was pathotype of B. juncea, Group Ib was pathotype of B. juncea cv. Cutlass, Group Ic was pathotype of B. juncea cv. Donskaja, Group Id was different B. juncea pathotype that showed disease reaction on B. oleracea, Group Ie was B. juncea pathotype that showed disease reaction on B. carinata cv. Kiran. Group II was pathotype of B. rapa var. Toria, Group III was pathotype of B. rapa. Finally, from 33 A. candida isolates a total of 21 pathotypes has identified on the basis of combined grouping on pathogenicity reactions on host differential and ITS and COX2 gene sequence analysis and new nomenclature has been given as per International standard, out of which 15 pathotypes showed more virulence to B. juncea that named as AC2-1 to AC-15, 06 pathotypes showed virulence to B. rapa that named as AC7-1 to AC7-6. The different A. candida pathotypes identified from different geographical regions of India could be utilized for the identification and deployment of resistant cultivar in major mustard growing areas.ThesisItem Open Access Characterization of Trichoderma isolates and their evaluation for induction of defense in Sorghum against Colletotrichum graminicola(G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar - 263145 (Uttarakhand), 2019-08) Manzar, Nazia; Singh, Y.Many foliar diseases are known to attack sorghum crop. Among them anthracnose disease caused by C. graminicola has a potential to decrease yield upto many fold. The aim of present study was to manage the anthracnose of sorghum through Trichoderma spp. Twenty isolates identified as Trichoderma were isolated from rhizospheric soil of different locations in Uttarakhand. Nineteen isolates were having globose to ovoidal shape conidia and 1 isolate having globose to subglobose shape conidia and size ranging from 3.09 μm to 3.80 μm in length and 2.95 μm to 3.73 μm width. SEM analysis revealed surface features like phialides arising in whorls and conidia having inconspicuous ornamentation were identified as T. asperellum and conidia smooth globose to subglobose in shape, ampulliform phialides, identified as T.harzianum. Molecular identification of 20 isolates of Trichoderma based on DNA sequence analysis of the ITS (1 and 4) and EF-1α gene to confirm species identity revealed that 19 isolates belong to Trichoderma asperellum and isolate T6 belong to T.harzianum. Among all the isolates tested in vitro against C.graminicola, T3 isolate of Trichoderma possessed maximum inhibition of radial growth (76.47%) of test pathogen. The mechanism of host defense induction in sorghum by Trichoderma isolates and accumulation of SOD, PPO and PO was observed in the first 24 hours after pathogen inoculation and highest at 48 hours after pathogen inoculation but gradually decreased at 72 hapi in all the experiment.T3 isolate showed the highest lignification in most of the root parts as compared to pathogen challenged sorghum and uninoculated untreated healthy control. Integration of seed biopriming, soil application enriched FYM and foliar application of Trichoderma isolates T3 and T19 was found highly effective in promoting root and shoot length and stem diameter of sorghum and minimum disease severity, minimum AUDPC and lowest mean infection rate.ThesisItem Open Access Elucidating Cu-Trichoderma interaction and Trichoderma-chitosan interaction in “Cu-Chi-Tri”, a novel consortium for potato late blight management(G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar - 263145 (Uttarakhand), 2019-08) Bohra, Yogita; Kumar, J.Threat of emerging pesticide resistant races and excessive usage of pesticides calls for an effective and ecofriendly management strategy. A triple combination “Cu-Chi-Tri” consisting of reduced dosage of Cu(OH)2, an antimicrobial and defence inducing biopolymer chitosan and a Trichoderma TCMS 36 exhibiting copper-chitosan tolerance, was found effective against late blight in earlier researches. Therefore, this study was conducted to decipher the underlying operative mechanism for disease control by the ‘triple combination’. The cultural, morphological and molecular characterization established the identity of TCMS 36 to be Trichoderma asperellum. SEM studies on interaction of Cu(OH)2 and tolerant and sensitive Trichoderma isolates, TCMS 36 and TCMS 25 revealed mycelial shrinkage and collapse in the sensitive isolate. Elemental analysis through EDX-mapping revealed presence and uniform distribution of Cu in the mycelial matrix of TCMS 36. Moreover, dual combination containing 500 ppm Cu(OH)2 and 1 percent Trichoderma and the triple combination containing 500 ppm Cu(OH)2 along with 500 ppm chitosan in oligomeric form and Trichoderma TCMS 36 (1%) was found to support the maximum build-up of Trichoderma population in soil as evident from 58.21 fold and 46.88 fold increase in population under sterilized soil condition. TLC and UPLC-qTOF-MS studies determined the production of chitosan oligomers by T.asperellum TCMS 36 machinery as was evident from development of dimer and trimer spots in TLC plate that were absent in control and moreover by increased relative intensities of m/z ~162, ~180, ~323 in MS spectrum corresponding to monomer, dimer and trimer units. The expression profile of chitosanase gene of TCMS 36 revealed the maximum expression accounting to 50.56 fold relative increase on 3rd day by combination of both Cu(OH)2 and chitosan. The expression of chitosanase gene was found to reduce gradually from 3rd to 10th day thus indicating the need of repeating sprays at 10 days interval. The in-vitro and microscopic observations revealed anti-Phytophthora activity of chitosan in terms of extensive mycelial inhibition and morphological alterations, the larger oligomers (pentamers to heptamers) being more effective. The polymeric chitosan was found to form a chemical barrier between host and pathogen leading to reduced sporangial germination and sporangiophore production on leaf surface. However, Trichoderma depolymerized smaller oligomers (monomers to tetramers) were found to enhance the defense activities mediated by lipoxygenase and catalase higher than those activated by polymers and larger oligomers (greater than hexamers), hence, leading to a switch-over of defense mechanism from being antimicrobial to a defense inducer. The lipoxygenase and catalase were activated earliest by smaller oligomers (DP<5) and were most prolonged (high activity upto 96 hpi) by the ‘triple combination’ containing chitosan monomers to hexamers. The totality of different mechanisms was summed up with reference to disease severity that was found to be minimum for Cymoxanil+Mancozeb (14.82 %) followed by Metalaxyl M+Mancozeb (20.37 %) which was followed by triple combination containing Trichoderma depolymerized chitosan CS661 as chitosan (25.93 %) 91 DAS, that was much effective than dual combinations (50-59.26 %) and the defense inducer BABA (48.15 %) thus establishing a resilient synergy for sustainable management of late blight disease. Moreover, no residual Cu was found in soil 130 DAS with treatments containing 500 ppm Cu(OH)2 whereas, Cu residue corresponding to 0.79 percent weight of soil was found 130 DAS with treatments containing 1000 ppm Cu(OH)2, thus establishing environment resilience of the triple combination. The efficacy of triple combination Cu-Chi-Tri with both polymeric and oligomeric chitosan variant needs to be validated in larger scale at farmer’s field in different potato growing regions. Moreover, future study needs to focus on large scale validation and development of product for the farmers and also on understanding the role of copper in enhancing the expression of chitosanase gene in T.asperellum TCMS 36.ThesisItem Open Access Cultural studies and evaluation of fungicides, botanicals, essential oils and biocontrol agents against Bipolaris zeicola (Stout) Shoemaker., the causal organism of northern leaf spot of maize(G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar - 263145 (Uttarakhand), 2019-08) Rana, Haripal; Pradeep KumarNorthern leaf spot of maize caused by Bipolaris zeicola (Stout) Shoemaker is one of the important diseases of maize. The disease is present in almost all maize growing areas and is a major limiting factor for maize cultivation. Therefore, in vitro and glasshouse studies were conducted to elucidate different aspects of pathogen biology and effective management of disease. Pathogen produced golden yellow to dark olive-brown conidial colonies and conidia were curved, long elliptical to spindle shaped, with rounded ends having 2 to 12 septa. Pathogen produced whitish grey colony on PDA when young, becoming blackish grey when mature with entire or irregular margin, hyphae hyaline to dark brown, septate and branched. The results of media on different temperature revealed that maximum mycelial growth (90.00 mm) was found in Oat meal agar at 30⁰C followed by 65.00 mm on Potato dextrose agar at 30⁰C. On media in different wavelength recorded maximum radial growth on Richard’s synthetic agar in yellow light (59.00 mm) and minimum growth (22.67 mm) was found in Oat meal agar media by yellow light. pH 5 was found suitable for the maximum growth (41.67 mm) and pH 9 for minimum growth (23.33 mm) of the fungus. Among different carbon sources, maximum growth (60.33 mm) observed in lactose amended media and minimum growth (50.33 mm) in manitol amended media. In different nitrogen sources, maximum growth (59.33 mm) was observed in sodium nitrate amended media and minimum growth (24.00 mm) in ammonium nitrate amended media. Among different non systemic and combi fungicides Hexaconazole (5%) + Captan (70%) 75% WP performed well at all the concentrations then other fungicides. Among different systemic fungicides, Propiconazole (25% EC) revealed good results at all concentrations, followed by Tebuconazole (25.9% EC). Best essential oils and botanicals for maximum growth inhibition of test pathogen were peppermint oil (87.41%) and marigold extract (58.52%), respectively. Among the biocontrol agents evaluated by dual culture and volatile method, maximum inhibition of mycelial growth were found in Th-14 (77.70%), and Th-39 (54.82%), respectively and minimum inhibition of mycelial growth were recorded in Th-17 (41.39%) and Th-19 (31.32%), respectively. Among different inoculation methods tested the maximium disease severity was found in silking stage in variety Pragati (13.67%) by stem injection method in glasshouse experiment. Among different treatments fungicides @ 50 ppm, essential oils @ 25 ppm, botanicals @ 5% and biocontrol agents @ 5% evaluated in pots, fungicidal sprays was found best among all the treatments and gave maximum disease control over check.ThesisItem Open Access Management of root knot nematode (Meloidogyne enterolobii) in tomato and guava using bio-intensive approaches(G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar - 263145 (Uttarakhand), 2019-08) Shubham Kumar; Sharma, RoopaliMeloidogyne enterolobii is a tropical or subtropical nematode and has a broad host range, including cultivated plants and weeds. For decades, the control of sedentary nematodes has relied heavily on chemical nematicides. In order to avoid excess use of nematicides, other alternates for ecofriendly management techniques like Biological control and Biofumigation can be explored. The present investigations were carried out to study bio-intensive management of Meloidogyne enterolobii causing root-knot in tomato and guava. The Identification of root knot nematode (Meloidogyne enterolobii) was done microscopically. The females of M. enterolobii showed characteristic pear-shape and pearly-white colour. The perineal pattern of adult females showed an oval shape dorsal arch which is usually high and round and weak lateral lines sometimes present with large phasmids. In vitro effect of Biocontrol Agents namely, Trichoderma asperellum (Th-14) and Pseudomonas fluorescens (Psf-173) and Biofumigants namely, Brassica juncea (mustard) variety Kranti and Raphanus sativus (raddish) variety Japanese white, was studied on the hatchability of eggs and mobility of second stage juvenile (J2) of M. enterolobii. Results revealed that, the rate of egg hatching and mobility of J2 decreases with the exposure of Biocontrol Agents and Biofumigants in different concentrations. Among all treatments, maximum reduction in egg hatching was recorded in Brassica juncea (67.00%) followed by Raphanus sativus (63.73%), Trichoderma asperellum (56.04 %) and Pseudomonas fluorescens (46.15%) after 96 hours of incubation period at 15 percent concentration over control (91.00% hatching of eggs). While, in case of juvenile mortality, Brassica juncea showed that maximum mortality of juveniles (92.60%) followed by Raphanus sativus (87.36%), Trichoderma asperellum (60.00%), Pseudomonas fluorescens (55.78%) over control (5% mortality of juveniles) at 15 concentration and incubation period of 96 hours. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) was performed to study the mode of action of Trichoderma on the eggs of Meloidogyne enterolobii. Mycelial parasitization of eggs through Trichoderma showed complete coiling which finally resulted in the desiccation and killing of eggs. The management of root knot nematode (M. enterolobii) using biointensive approaches was studied under the glass house conditions in tomato and guava. The experiments were laid out using different treatments of Biocontrol agents (Trichoderma asperellum (Th-14), Pseudomonas flourescens (Psf-173), PBAT 3 (consortium of Th14 & Psf173) and Paecilomyces lilacinus (commercial) with the combination of Biofumigation (Brassica juncea & Raphanus sativus). Nematicide carbofuran was used as chemical check. All the treatments showed positive effect on the growth parameters of tomato and guava plants. In tomato, combination of BAT3+Biofumigation(M) resulted in maximum fresh root (7.38g) and shoot weight (36.07g) with minimum number of root galls (18.33galls per root system) as compared to the combination of other treatments. Whereas, in guava, maximum fresh root weight was found in the case of both treatments CF+Biofumigation(R) (2.57g) and Psf173+Biofumigation(R) (2.57g) which was statistically similar to PBAT3+Biofumigation(R) (2.51g). Minimum number of root galls (17.67galls per root system) was observed in PBAT3+Biofumigation(M).ThesisItem Open Access Studies on Colletotrichum capsici (Syd.) Butler and Bisby causing anthracnose of chilli and its ecofriendly management(G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar - 263145 (Uttarakhand), 2019-07) Prajapati, Manoj Kumar; Rawat, ShilpiChilli (Capsicum annum L.) is one of the most important commercial crops of India. The sustainability of chilli production is threatened by various fungal, bacterial and viral diseases. Out of more than fourteen fungal diseases affecting chilli, anthracnose caused by Colletotrichum capsici is one of the oldest and most destructive disease which is reported worldwide. Focusing on the eco-friendliness and sustainability of the management methods, the present investigation was undertaken to study the cultural and morphological characteristics, identification of resistant sources through screening and management of the disease through botanicals fungicides. The in vitro evaluation of different inoculation methods revealed that pin prick method was the most effective for inciting chilli anthracnose. Pin prick method produced maximum lesion length and had recorded the highest disease severity when compared to the other three viz., fruit dip, spray and spot inoculation methods. The OMA and CFDA were found to be the best medium for the growth and sporulation of the fungus, respectively. The fungus produced greyish to white colony with fluffy texture and smooth margin on OMA, PDA, CDA, RSA and MEA whereas dark brown to black colony with thin and scanty texture was observed in CFDA. The maximum radial growth of the fungus in PDA was obtained at 30 0C temperature and pH 7.0. The studies on morphological characteristics of pathogen under stereo-binocular and electron microscope showed that mycelium was dense, septate and brown in colour. It produced acervuli having septate setae, sickle shaped brown coloured conidia with oil globule in the center. In vitro evaluation of botanicals revealed that neem @ 15% had the highest growth inhibition (44.21%) followed by tulsi @ 15% and neem @ 10%. Under field conditions, neem @ 15% had the lowest PDI and highest yield followed by marigold @ 15%. The in vitro screening of chilli varieties against C. capsici revealed that out of ten varieties six were found to be moderately resistant whereas two each exhibited susceptible and highly susceptible disease reaction. Hence, it can be concluded that eco-friendly management of anthracnose disease can be achieved byThesisItem Open Access Study on feasibility of spawn production through basidiospores of Pleurotus sajor-caju (Fr.) Singer(G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar - 263145 (Uttarakhand), 2019-07) Purohit, Rahul; Mishra, S.K.Among the all cultivated mushrooms, Pleurotus is the second most important mushroom in the world. At present, many species of Pleurotus mushroom have developed. Out of them Pleurotus sajor-caju is the most popular species. This mushroom can be easily grown in various agricultural organic substrates within the short time duration. It can tolerate the wide range of temperature from 10-30oC. Short duration crop, easy cultivation, fast growing habit, durable post-harvest life and easy for value addition are some of its other special characters and due to these characters it becomes very popular among the mushroom growers and consumers. Its cultivation is based on the quality of 1st generation inoculum (master inoculum), which is prepared by the method of tissue culture on the wheat grains. This method usually takes 15-20 days to prepare 1st generation inoculum. Due to this prolonged incubation period it is affected by fungal and bacterial contamination. In the beginning of the research, basidiospores were collected on black circular paper which was defined as Spore Printed Circular Paper (SPCP). To evaluate the number of spores in a circular paper disc, it was inoculated into sterilized distilled water and was further diluted to the strength of 10-2. The average numbers of spores/ml at 10-2 dilution strength was found to be approx. 15.4 × 104. The SPCP was further evaluated on the solid potato dextrose (SPD) and liquid potato dextrose (LPD) medium to observe the fungal and bacterial contamination. It was found that, sterilized distilled water treated SPCP (SDWT-SPCP) did not propagate any fungal and bacterial contamination in SPD and LPD medium and also resulted 88 mm radial growth on 20 DAI and 0.92 g dry mycelial weight on 30 DAI, respectively. However, their respective checks (tissue culture) performed 89 mm radial growth on 10 DAI and 0.99 g dry mycelial weight on 30 days. In another method (Spore Printed Water) the basidiospores of P. sajor-caju were collected in sterilized distilled water and it was found that Spore Printed Water propagate bacterial contamination after inoculation of SPD medium. So, this method was rejected for proceeding study. The cultural studies were also done using SDWT-SPCP with different media (potato dextrose agar, Pleurotus liquid media (modified), oat meal agar, corn meal agar and malt extract agar), pH (5, 6, 7 and 8) and temperature (15, 20, 25 and 30oC) and it was observed that malt extract agar media having pH 7 at a temperature of 25oC was found optimum for the growth of spore culture. As per the in-vitro results, the broth based spore culture and spore suspension prepared by using 3 SPCP/200 ml LPD and 1 SPCP/100 ml sterilized distilled water, respectively were found to be best out of 5 treatments of the 1st generation inoculum. The 1st generation broth based spore culture was ready to use within 4 days after the inoculation and spore suspension was used immediately without prior incubation in contrast to 10 and 11 days of incubation period taken in the check (tissue culture) and grain based master spawn, respectively. Consecutively, 2nd generation inoculum was prepared from the 1st generation inoculum of broth based spore culture and spore suspension. The 2nd generation inoculum prepared from broth based spore culture and spore suspension were taken 13 and 14 days, respectively without any contamination while, three other treatments; chloramphenicol treated-SPCP, sterilized distilled water treated-SPCP and dry-SPCP had taken 16 days to prepare the 2nd generation inoculum in which 40%, 10% and 40% contamination was found, respectively. Out of all the above treatments of 2nd generation inoculum, maximum 246.8 g yield and minimum 127.6 g yield/kg of wet wheat straw was found in broth based spore culture and spore suspension with 72.59% and 37.47% biological efficiency, respectively.