S. LingarajuShetty, Akshatha2021-01-092021-01-092016-06https://krishikosh.egranth.ac.in/handle/1/5810159701Endophytes can be defined as plant associated microorganisms that live inside plant tissues without causing any harm to plants. Endophytes were isolated from five to six week old healthy tomato plants grown in the fields of College of Agriculture, University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad. Both fungal and bacterial endophytes were isolated from the plant parts like roots, leaves and stems using standard protocols. Cell-free culture filtrates of fifteen endophytes were tested against root knot nematode juvenile mortality in vitro. Out of eight bacterial endophytes, four endophytic bacteria showed promising results with highest nematode mortality of 92.47 per cent while out of seven fungal endophytes, two were found efficacious with the highest mortality of 81.80 per cent. Based on the in vitro test results, best four endophytic bacteria and best two endophytic fungi were advanced for an in vivo experiment. The effect of endophytic fungi and bacteria against tomato root knot nematode disease and plant growth parameters in tomato were tested employing soil inoculation and seedling dip method of application (using endophytes’ suspension). Plants inoculated with endophytes significantly enhanced plant growth parameters and reduced number of nematode galls compared to control. Between two methods of endophyte inoculation, soil inoculation method showed better results. The efficacious four bacterial and two fungal endophytes were characterized by employing morphological and molecular methods. The bacterial endophytes were identified as Luteimonas aestuarii, Pseudomonas lini, Bacillus pumilus and Bacillus sp. and fungal endophytes were identified as Nigrospora sphaerica and Nigrospora oryzae.EnglishThesis