PJB-2023-393
Biological control of cucumber (Cucumus sativus L.) and ridge gourd [Luffa detangula L. (Roxb.)] damping-off by fungal and bacterial antagonist
Ghulam Sarwar Shah, Owais Iqbal, Nasir Ahmed Rajput, Muhammad Ali Khanzada, Jamal Uddin Hajano and Abdul Mubeen Lodhi
Abstract
Chemical fungicides are easily accessible in the market to manage damping-off diseases; however, their negative impacts on crop physiology, including photosynthesis, environmental factors, and human health are worth mentioning. Recently, biological control received considerable attention as an alternative to the use of synthetic agrochemicals. In the present study, we evaluate nine Bacillus strains, two species of Trichoderma (Trichoderma harzianum and Trichoderma polysporum), and one Paecilomyces variotii against two strains (Pa04 and Pa11) of Pythium aphanidermatum under laboratory conditions. The results revealed that two Bacillus strains, including OI07 (39.3% and 40%) and OI15 (33.7% and 31%) exhibited the highest growth inhibition zones (GIZs) against both fungal isolates compared to other Bacillus strains. The dual culture test exhibited that T. harzianum was the most efficient fungal biocontrol agent, exhibiting the highest inhibition percentage (34.6% and 33.1%) against both strains, followed by T. polysporum (31.7% and 32.2%) and P. variotii (24.4% and 26.2%). Both bacterial strains and all fungal biocontrol agents (BCAs) were also employed alone or in combination against two strains (Pa04 and Pa11) of P. aphanidermatum in a pot experiment. The results of the pot experiment indicated that the combination of T. harzianum and Bacillus at (1x105 cfu per ml) was the most successful in suppressing pre- and post-emergence damping-off and also resulted in maximum seed germination at the same concentration. Furthermore, the plants treated with T. harzianum and Bacillus strains exhibited the highest plant measurements, such as root or shoot length and weight. This was followed by the T. polysporum and Bacillus strains treatment. In comparison, the treatment of P. variotii and Bacillus strains was found to be moderately effective at low, medium, and higher doses. In summary, the combination of T. harzianum with Bacillus is most powerful approach to reduce the damping-off disease incidence in both vegetables crop
To Cite this article:
Shah, G.S., O. Iqbal, N.A. Rajput, M.A. Khanzada, J.U. Hajano and A.M. Lodhi. 2025. Biological control of cucumber (Cucumus sativus L.) and ridge gourd [Luffa detangula L. (Roxb.)] damping-off by fungal and bacterial antagonist. Pak. J. Bot., 57(1): DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.30848/PJB2025-1(33)
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