Studies on effect of biological control agents on plant growth, disease incidence, seed yield and quality attributes in cucumber
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Date
2023-10-19
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UHF,NAUNI
Abstract
ABSTRACT
The present investigation entitled “Studies on effect of biological control agents on plant growth,
disease incidence, seed yield and quality attributes in cucumber” was conducted during the years 2021 and
2022 under laboratory and field conditions in the Department of Seed Science and Technology, Dr. YS Parmar
University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, Solan (HP). Ten indigenous isolates of bioagents including five
bacterial bioagents (Bacillus licheniformis strain B6, B. pumilus strain MK5, B. subtilis strain RDO10,
Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain N2S6, P. fluorescens strain HB-13) and five fungal bioagents (Trichoderma
atroviride ta001, T. atroviride ta002, T. atroviride ta003, T. atroviride ta004, T. atroviride ta005 were screened
for their bio-efficacy as seed treatment under laboratory conditions following standard methods of seed quality
and health testing as prescribed by International Seed Testing Association. On the basis of first experiment, B.
pumilus strain MK5 and T. atroviride ta001 were selected for field evaluation. Twelve treatment combinations
of these bioagents based on seed treatment, soil application and foliar sprays were used viz., T. seed priming+ T.
foliar spray (T1), B. seed priming+ Bacillus foliar spray (T2), T. seed coating+ T. foliar spray (T3), B. seed
coating+ B. foliar spray (T4), T. soil application+ T. foliar spray (T5), B. soil application+ B. foliar spray (T6),
T. seed priming+ B. seed coating plus B. + T. foliar spray (T7), B. seed priming+ T. seed coating plus (B. + T.)
foliar spray (T8), B. seed priming + T. soil application plus (B. + T.) foliar spray ( T9), T. seed priming+ B. soil
application plus (B.+ T.) foliar spray ( T10), fungicide treatments (T11) and untreated control (T12). Under field
experiments, lowest male female flowers ratio (9.95), minimum number of days to first picking (56.75 days),
maximum harvest duration (30.17 days), number of marketable fruits/plant (11.75), average fruit weight (258.06
g), fruit length (21.58 cm), fruit diameter (5.08 cm), fruit yield/plant (2.74 kg), fruit yield/plot (24.63 kg), fruit
yield/ha (350.25 q), number of seeds/fruit (281.20), seed yield/plant (68.05 g), seed yield/plot (612.44 g), seed
yield/ha (871.03 kg), maximum 1000 seed weight (30.27 g), minimum severity of powdery mildew (1.62 %)
was recorded under combined treatment of Trichoderma atroviride ta001 seed priming+ soil application with
Bacillus pumilus strain MK5 as well as foliar sprays of T. atroviride ta001+ B. pumilus strain MK5 (T10) and
minimum was recorded under untreated control. It can be concluded from the present investigation that a
treatment combination comprised of seed priming with T. atroviride (ta001) @ 106 cfu/ml for 6-8 hours before
sowing + soil application with B. pumilus strain MK5 @ 1kg FYM/m2 (inoculated @100 ml/kg FYM of 108
cfu/ml) at the time of sowing plus foliar spray of T. atroviride (ta001) @ 106 cfu/ml + B. pumilus strain MK5 @
108 cfu/ml (@10ml/ m2) enhanced plant growth parameters, yield attributes such as number of fruits per plant,
average fruit length (cm), average fruit diameter (cm), average fruit weight (g) and quality of harvested seed in
cucumber cv. Solan Srijan. This treatment also provided the control of important disease like powdery mildew
up to 86.79% over control