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Dr. Y. S. Parmar University of Horticulture & Forestry, Solan

Dr. Yashwant Singh Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Solan, was established on 1st December, 1985 with the objective to promote education, research and extension education in the fields of Horticulture, Forestry and allied disciplines. Late Dr. Yashwant Singh Parmar, the first Chief Minister and the architect of Himachal Pradesh perceived the importance of Horticulture and Forestry to develop and improve the State economy which led to the establishment of this University. Its history lies in erstwhile Himachal Agricultural College, Solan, established in 1962 and affiliated to the Panjab University. It became one of the campuses of Agriculture Complex of Himachal Pradesh University on its formation in 1970. Consequent upon the establishment of Himachal Pradesh Krishi Vishvavidyalaya in 1978, this campus became its Horticulture Complex and finally in 1985, assumed the status of a State University, being the only University in the country engaged exclusively in teaching, research and extension in Horticulture and Forestry. The University is located at Nauni in Solan District of Himachal Pradesh, 13 km from Solan on Solan-Rajgarh Road, at an elevation of 1300 metres above mean sea level. Solan town is situated on national highway (NH-22) and is well connected by train and bus services. The University has four constituent colleges, out of which, two are located at the main campus Nauni, one for horticulture and the other for forestry, having 9 and 7 departments, respectively. The third College i.e., College of Horticulture & Forestry is located at Neri in Hamirpur District on Nadaun-Hamirpur state highway, about 6 Km from Hamirpur town and is well connected with bus service. The college offers three Undergraduate Degree Programmes i.e. BSc (Hons.) Horticulture, BSc (Hons.) Forestry and B. Tech. Biotechnology and MSc degree programme in a few subjects. The fourth college i.e. College of Horticulture and Forestry, Thunag (Mandi) is located at Thunag District Mandi. This college offer BSc (Hons.) Horticulture and BSc (Hons.) Forestry degree programme. In addition, there are five Regional Research Stations, 12 Satellite Stations and five Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) situated in different zones of the State.

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2013 - 201519
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Subject: Microbiology × End date: 2015 × Start date: 2013 × Thesis Type: M.Sc ×
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Now showing 1 - 9 of 19
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    ISOLATION AND SCREENING OF POTENTIAL MICROORGANISMS FROM TRADITIONAL FERMENTED FOODS AND TO STUDY THEIR PROBIOTIC ATTRIBUTES
    (UHF,NAUNI, 2014) SHARMA, RANJANA; SHARMA, NIVEDITA
    ABSTRACT The present investigation was carried out to isolate potential microorganisms from different traditional fermented food sources, their screening, characterization on biochemical as well as molecular level and further more to explore their probiotic potential. Total 22 probiotic isolates were isolated from different food sources of Himachal Pradesh. Most of bacterial isolates were found to be gram positive, catalase negative whereas yeast isolates were found to be coccus in shape and were preli minary screened on the basis of antagonism. Among all, 8 isolates viz. A4, L1, L2, M1, S6, A3, I and Y2 were finally screened and were identified as Lactobacillus sp., Pediococcus acidilactici, Lactobacillus plantarum, Lactobacillus sp., Lactobacillussp., Bacillus licheniformis, Candida sp. and Saccharomyces cerevisiae respectively by 16S and 5.8S ITS rRNA gene technique. These screened probiotic isolates were further evaluated for their probiotic potential viz. acidity tolerance, bile tolerance, antibiotic susceptibility, autoaggregation capacit y, hydrophobicity, bacteriocinogenicity, compatibility and cumulative probiotic potential. All the eight screened probiotic isolates were found to be highly acidity tolerant strains as they showed survival of75.4 to 99.7% at pH 1.0 for 30 to 90 min and were found to be highly sensitive towards all the antibiotics tested, proving them safe for use. These eight screened probiotic isolates showed good autoaggregation capacity i.e. greater that 40% after 5 h and showed strong hydrophobicity towards xylene with hydrophobicity greater than 40%. These screened probiotic isolates showed broad and strong inhibitory spectrum against both gram-positiveand gram-negative pathogenic microorganisms and their growth phase depicted maximum production of inhibitory metabolites in between the late exponential phase and in the beginning of the stationary phase. Screened probiotic isolates supernatant was found to be sensitive to both proteolytic and amylolytic enzymes as decrease in the zone of inhibition was found. Thus, proving that the supernatant must contain proteins or carbohy drate moieties which help in the inhibitory action of these screened probiotic isolates. The entire screened eight isolates were highly qualified the cumulative probiotic score and are being used to prepare probiotic formulated functional foods viz. soy yogurt and fermented ketchup and are successfully accepted in their sensory evaluation. Hence, this study affirms the use of Lactobacillus sp. A4, P. acidilacticiL1, L. plantarumL2, Lactobacillussp. M1, Lactobacillus sp. S6, B. cereus A3, Candida sp. I and Saccharomyces cerevisiaeY2 in the development of new pharmaceutical and functional foods to impart to betterment of the health of public as these eight strains isolated in the present study have been proved safe as well as highly effective probiotics.
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    CHARACTERIZATION OF PLANT GROWTH PROMOTING RHIZOBACTERIA AND EVALUATION OF THEIR BIOCONTROL POTENTIAL AGAINST TOMATO BACTERIAL WILT
    (UHF,NAUNI, 2014) SEHGAL, RUTIKA; SHIRKOT, C.K.
    ABSTRACT Bacteria that colonize plant roots and promote plant growth are referred to as plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR). PGPR are highly diverse and in this study we focus on rhizobacteria as biocontrol agents. Their effects can occur via local antagonism to soilborne pathogens or by induction of systemic resistance against pathogens throughout the entire plant. Several substances produced by antagonistic rhizobacteria have been related to pathogen control and indirect promotion of growth in many plants, such as siderophores, lytic enzymes and antibiotics. Induced systemic resistance (ISR) in plants resembles pathogeninduced systemic acquired resistance (SAR) under conditions where the inducing bacteria and the challenging pathogen remain spatially separated. There is a considerable experimental support for the idea that PGPR may be used as biocontrol agent and biofertilizers to increase the yield of tomato crop with concomitant decrease in the chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Therefore, the aim of this study is to screen the antagonistic plant growth promoting rhizobacteria for biocontrol of tomato bacterial wilt with multifarious plant growth promoting traits. The antagonistic bacterial strains were characterized for antagonistic activity along with multifarious plant growth promoting activities like P solubilisation, IAA production, siderophore synthesis, lytic enzyme activity, and ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen under in vitro conditions. Five antagonistic bacterial isolates were tested for biocontrol potential under net house conditions. Isolate CT7A showed maximum reduction of disease incidence. Increase in plant biomass was also observed with the isolate. The isolate was identified as Bacillus subtilis by 16S rDNA sequencing. Therefore, CT7A strain had considerable biocontrol potential as well as growth promotion ability and therefore it could be used as a biocontrol agent against bacterial wilt of tomato.
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    CHARACTERIZATION OF PLANT GROWTH PROMOTING RHIZOBACTERIA ASSOCIATED WITH MAIZE (Zea maysL.) UNDER LOW HILL CONDITIONS OF HIMACHAL PRADESH
    (UHF,NAUNI, 2014) DHIMAN, MEENAKSHI; KAUSHAL, RAJESH
    ABSTRACT Plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) are used as inoculants for improving the growth and yield of agricultural crops. PGPR are also low cost eco-friendly inoculants for detoxification and bioremediation of soil. The present investigation was carried out during the Kharif seasons of 2013-14 with the objectives to develop a potential bio-inoculum/ bio control agent for maize crop growing in low hill conditions of Himachal Pradesh. The rhizospheric and root samples of maize (Zea mays L.) plants were collected from Hamirpur (31.63˚ N to 76.51˚ E), Bilaspur (31.33˚ N to 76.75˚ E) and Una (31.47˚ N to 76.27˚ E) districts of Himachal Pradesh to isolate an effective inoculums of PGPR with multiple plant growth promoting traits (P-solubilization, N-fixation, IAA, Siderophore, HCN production and antagonism against soil borne pathogens). Five isolates (B1N1, J2, J4, 3M and R6) possesses maximum plant growth promoting traits were selected. On the basis of its morphological, physiological and biochemical characteristics these five isolates were tentatively identified as Bacillus sp. Seed bacterized with isolate B1N1 showed significant increase in germination, leaf number, shoot length,shoot biomass, root length, root biomass over uninoculated control. The seed inoculated withB1N1 registered significant increase in NPK uptake by 78.22, 74.63, 80.77 per cent, respectively over uninoculated control. These two (B1N1 and J2) potential isolates was also identified by 16S rRNA gene sequencing as Bacillus subtilis. Biofertization and bioprotactant potential of selected bacterial isolates paved the way of their use at commercial level to supplement chemical inputs (Fertilizer and fungicide) for enhance production.
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    COMPARATIVE STUDY OF Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Pseudomonas fluorescens ANDPseudomonas putida ON THE GROWTH OF APPLE IN REPLANT SITE
    (UHF,NAUNI, 2014) SHARMA, PARUL; KAUR, MOHINDER
    ABSTRACT In the present study, isolation and characterization of fluorescent Pseudomonas sp. from normal and replant site of was done. The twelve Pseudomonasisolates were screened out for various plant growth promoting activities like siderophore, phosphate solubilization, antifungal activity, plant growth regulators (auxins, cytokinins and gibberellins), lytic enzymes and production of HCN and ammonia. On the basis of PGPR activities, two isolates (L and M) were genotypically characterized by 16S rRNA gene sequencing. L showed 95% homology with Pseudomonas putida with accession number (KF751235) and M showed 95% homology with Pseudomonas fluorescenswith accession number (KF751236). These two strains along with another Pseudomonas aeruginosa C strain exploited for the management of replant problem of apple in replant site at Maggota and Sharontha (Shimla). Four different antifungal metabolites were extracted with ethyl acetate were tentatively identified on thin layer chromatography (TLC) at Rf values 0.6, 0.62, 0.82 and 0.8. Antifungal activities of Pseudomonas sp. help in suppression of plant pathogenic fungus in soil and these may be the reasons of better establishment of apple rootstocks treated with fluorescent Pseudomonas strains. These two L, M and one Pseudomonas aeruginosaC strains used in different liquid formulations to treat apple root stocks before plantation in replant site of orchards at Maggota and Sharontha individually and their consortia for treatment of apple rootstocks before planting. The performance of apple plants was much better in terms of root colonization capacity, plant establishment and increase in plant growth in terms of plant height, number of nodes, chlorophyll content of leaves and NPK of rhizosphere soil over their respective control after fifteen months of plantation. These strains can be further exploited for management of replant problem of apple after conducting few more field trials in replant sites and can have great importance in the field of horticulture.
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    PHOSPHATE SOLUBILIZING POTENTIAL OF PLANT GROWTH PROMOTING RHIZOBACTERIA OF CAULIFLOWER
    (2013) DIPTA, BHAWNA; KAUSHAL, RAJESH
    Phosphorus plays an essential role in photosynthesis, respiration, biological N fixation, root development, maturation, flowering, fruiting and seed production. Keeping the importance of P in modern intensive crop production system the present investigations entitled, “Phosphate solubilizing potential of plant growth promoting rhizobacteria of cauliflower” was carried out during 2010- 2012. An attempt was made to characterize and evaluate the phosphate solubilizing potential of selected four indigenous PGPR viz MK5, MK7, MK9 and VG1of cauliflower isolated from different agro-climatic zones of Himachal Pradesh. All the bacterial isolates were able to grow on nutrient agar, Pikovskaya’s medium, nitrogen free media and were screened for various other plant growth promoting traits. All the four isolates were able to solubilize tricalcium phosphate in solid and liquid medium. Out of four isolates, MK5 and VG1 bacterial isolates exhibited maximum concurrent IAA, siderophore, HCN and protease production and antifungal activity against Sclerotinia sclerotiorum and Pythium ultimum. MK5 isolate showed maximum TCP-solubilization (538.69 μg/ml), maximum viable count (45.67×106) and a drop of 2.59 in final pH followed by RP after 72 h of incubation at 35ºC. On the basis of 16S rDNA sequencing, MK5 and VG1 were identified as Bacillus subtilis and Bacillus safensis. Seed bacterization with MK5 and VG1 isolate+TCP showed significant increase in plant growth parameters, yield of cauliflower and the conjoint application increased significantly NPK content of soil by 21.9, 55.2 and 26.4% and microbial (endophytic and rhizospheric) population over various uninoculated controls. Hence, the inoculation of cauliflower seeds with efficient isolate of PSM not only increase yield and quantity of cauliflower but also improved the physico-chemical and microbiological properties of soil
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    ISOLATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF PLANT GROWTH PROMOTING RHIZOBACTERIA (PGPR) FROM TURMERIC (Curcuma longa L.)
    (2013) BALKAR, SINGH; KAUSHAL, RAJESH
    ABSTRACT Plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) due to myriad plant growth promoting/stimulating traits have become an emerging area of research and important commercial agro-input in past two decades. They have acquired a strategic place in sustainable agriculture development around the globe. Supplementation of chemical fertilizers by PGPR can reduce chemical input upto 25-30%. Beside this PGPR also provides a low cost eco-friendly way of detoxification and bioremediation of soil. Hence, investigation entitled “Isolation and characterization of plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) from Turmeric (Curcuma longa L.)” was carried out during the years 2010-12 for the development a potential bio-inoculum for turmeric crop growing in low mid hills of Himachal Pradesh. The rhizospheric soil samples, rhizome/root samples of Turmeric (Curcuma longa L.) plants were collected from Kangra (31º2 to 32º5 N and 75º to 77º45 E) and Hamirpur (31º25 to 31º52 N and 76º18 to 76º44 E) districts of Himachal Pradesh. Using modified replica plating technique a sum of 27 isolates were selected and purified. Only 7 isolates out of 27 isolates were selected for net house studies, on the basis of various PGPR traits (N-fixation, P-solubilization, sidrophore, HCN and auxin production) and antagonism against Pythium spp. and collectotrichum spp. causing rhizome rot and leaf spot respectively. Bacterial isolate A10 showed maximum P-solubilization qualitative (81.5%) and quantitative (128.8μg/ml) as well, growth on Jensen’s medium, sidrophpre production (103.7%), IAA production (29.4μg/ml), HCN production and antagonism against Pythium spp.(41.4%) and collectotrichum spp.(39.3%). Bacterial isolate A10 tentatively identified as Bacillus spp. on the basis of its morphological, physiological and biochemical characteristics. Plants bacterized with isolate A10 showed significantly increase in leaf number (33.1%), shoot length (16.5%), shoot biomass (28.4%), root length (29.2%), root biomass (52.3%), rhizome size (58.8%) and rhizome yield (54.6%) over uninoculated control, along with maximum NPK uptake and availability. Biofertization and bioprotactant characters of selected bacterial isolate A10 (Bacillus spp.) paved the way of its use at commercial level to supplement chemical fertilizers for enhance production after conducting multilocational field trial in different agro-climatic zones of the state.
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    STUDIES ON DIVERSE PLANT GROWTH PROMOTING RHIZOBACTERIA ASSOCIATED WITH RHIZOSPHERE OF Aconitum heterophyllum
    (2015) MINAKSHI; SRIKOT, C.K.
    Abstract It has been long recognized that many naturally occurring rhizospheric bacteria are plant growth promoting and may offer a viable substitute for chemicals. One of the important trait of PGPR is to convert insoluble forms of phosphorus to an accessible form for increasing plant growth. Little is known about the composition of phosphate solubilizing bacterial diversity associated with rhizosphere of medicinal plant. Therefore, the present study was aimed to explore the diversity of P-solubilizing bacterial communities colonizing the rhizosphere soil and endosphere of medicinal plant Aconitum heterophyllum grown in natural conditions of trans Himalayan region of Himachal Pradesh. A total of one hundred and seventy one rhizospheric and endorhizospheric bacteria were isolated from soil and root samples of Aconitum heterophyllum collected from two different sites of Kangra and Lahaul valley and were screened for phosphate solubilization, siderophore production and nitrogen fixation. A total of one hundred and ten P-solubilizing bacterial isolates were selected for quantitative estimation of Psolubilzation, and twenty highest P-solubilizing bacterial isolates were selected and further screened for multifarious plant growth promoting traits. Out of twenty P-solubilizing bacterial isolates ten isolates were selected on the basis of high PGP traits for growth promotion of tomato seedlings under net house conditions for sixty days. Treatment with isolate Ka(1)5r showed maximum per cent increase in various growth parameters of tomato seedlings and therefore, was found to be most efficient plant growth promoting rhizobacteria which was further selected for optimization of P-solubilization and IAA production. Optimized cultural conditions resulted in maximum P-solubilization (197 μg/ml) after 96 h of incubation at 35°C in PVK broth (having concentration of TCP 1%) of pH 6.0 with 1% inoculum size of culture. In case of optimized cultural conditions for IAA production, the maximum IAA production (42 μg/ml) was observed after 96h of incubation at 35°C in LB broth (with 1.0% of tryptophan concentration) of pH 8.0 ammended with an inoculum size of 2%. The most efficient bacterial isolate Ka(1)5r was identified as Bacillus subtilis by 16S rRNA sequencing. Thus, the ability of performing multifarious plant growth promoting activities in tandem suggest PSB isolates for plant growth promotion and has significance to develop a cost-effective ecofriendly multifunctional biofertilizer.
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    STUDIES ON PLANT GROWTH PROMOTING RHIZOBACTERIA ASSOCIATED WITH MAIZE (Zea mays L.) UNDER MID HILL CONDITIONS OF HIMACHAL PRADESH
    (2015) GIRISH, KUMAR; KAUSHAL, RAJESH
    ABSTRACT Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria (PGPR) are bioresources which may be viewed as a novel and potential tool for providing substantial benefits to agriculture. Use of PGPRs gaining worldwide importance and acceptance for different agricultural crops and appears to be one of the important agriinputs in the future. The present investigations entitled “Studies on plant growth promoting rhizobacteria associated with maize (Zea mays L.) under mid hill conditions of Himachal Pradesh” was carried out during the Kharif seasons of 2013-14 to isolate and screen bacterial isolates from rhizosphere/endorhizosphere of maize plants from Solan, Sirmour and Kangra districts of Himachal Pradesh. A total of 40 isolates were isolated and purified by using replica plate method. Only 15 isolates were selected on the basis of morphological characteristics for screening of multiple PGP traits. Out of 15 isolates, the best 5 isolates (DHK, MAT1, MAT2, KAN and NRG) were selected for net house studies, on the basis of various PGP traits (N-fixation, P-solubilization, siderophore and HCN production) and antagonism against Fusarium oxysporum and Rhizoctonia solani causing root rot and banded leaf and sheath spot, respectively. Bacterial isolate DHK showed maximum (78.9% and 163.7 µg/ml) P- solubilization qualitatively and quantitatively, respectively as well as growth on Jensen’s medium, siderophore production (73.7%), IAA production (33.7 µg/ml), HCN production and antagonism against Fusarium oxysporum (45.6%) and Rhizoctonia solani (36.1%). Plants treated with isolate DHK showed significantly increase in shoot length (52.3%), shoot biomass (64.4%), root length (62.1%), root biomass (53.8%), seed germination (27.6%) and over uninoculated control, along with maximum NPK uptake and availability. Further, on the basis of 16S rRNA gene sequencing the DHK isolate was identified as Bacillus subtilis. Hence this isolate has good prospects to use as biofertilizers, biocontrol agent and biostimulant not only to enhance maize productivity but also to sustain soil health under mid hill conditions of Himachal Pradesh.
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    CHARACTERIZATION OF ACTINOMYCETES AND RHIZOTOXINS INVOLVED IN REPLANT PROBLEM OF APPLE AND THEIR INTERACTION WITH PLANT GROWTH PROMOTING FLUORESCENT PSEUDOMONAS SPECIES
    (2015) KAUSHAL, NEHA; KAUR, MOHINDER
    ABSTRACT Replant disease is a major problem of apple orchard, which is a main cash crop in TransHimalayan region. Among different approaches, application of Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobaceria (PGPR) at replant site is one of the promising methods. Fluorescent Pseudomonas, a major component of rhizobacteria, promotes the plant growth through their multifarious activities. In the present study, fluorescent Pseudomonas and actinomycetes were isolated from the rhizosphere of apple plants of their normal and replant sites and found that the count of fluorescent Pseudomonas species were more in normal site as compare to replant site. The fourteen Pseudomonas isolates were screened out for various plant growth promoting activities like siderophores, phosphate solubilization, production of HCN and ammonia, lytic enzymes, plant growth regulators (auxins, gibberellins and cytokinins) and antifungal activity. The seven actinomycetes isolates were screened out for various plant growth promoting activities like siderophores, phosphate solubilization, production of HCN and ammonia, lytic enzymes and antifungal activity. One isolate of Pseudomonas sp. (Ar-4-De) and two isolates of actinomycetes (Act-1-Mgr and Act-1-Sir) were genotypically characterized by 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Ar-4-De showed 95% homology with Pseudomonas aeruginosa with accession number (KU139389). In replant site of Maggota and Siao, three strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa I, J and K were used individually and their consortia for treatment of apple rootstocks before planting. Estimation of total phenols, sugars and amino acids were done from the root exudates collected from the roots of treated apple plants. Root exudates were found to be helpful in colonization of beneficial microorganisms. The performance of apple plants was much better in terms of root colonization capacity, plant establishment and increase in plant growth in terms of plant height, number of nodes, chlorophyll content of leaves and NPK of rhizosphere soil over their respective control after nine months of treatment. These strains can be further exploited for management of replant problem of apple after conducting few more field trials in replant sites and can have great importance in the field of horticulture.