Efficacy of bio-agents against damping off in solanaceous crops under nursery conditions

The study was conducted to assess efficacy of Trichoderma harzianum and Pseudomonas fluorescens against damping off in tomato and brinjal seedlings during Kharif season. The investigation was performed as on farm trials on farmers' field over three years viz., 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-16. T. harzianum and P. fluorescens were applied in combination of soil+seed treatment. Talc based formulation of both bio control agents were used @ 10 g kg -1 in seed treatment and 100 g m -2 in soil treatment. Results indicated that the combination of soil+seed treatment with T. harzianum was gives maximum seedling stands (84.15%) with minimum mortality (15.85%) in brinjal followed by soil+seed treatment with mixture of T. harzianum and P. fluorescens (78.30%) and soil+seed treatment with P. fluorescens alone (69.68%) whereas, in control plot treated with Carbendazim 50 WP (soil+seed) recorded less seedling stand (41.50%). In case of tomato, application of T. harzianum as soil+seed gave the maximum seedling stand (80.32%) followed by soil+seed treatment with combination of T. harzianum and P. fluorescens (73.45%) and P. fluorescens alone (58.64%) while seed+soil treatment with Carbendazim 50 WP given minimum seedling stand (42.01%). Consortium of T. harzianum and P. fluorescens significantly increased the growth and yield attributes of brinjal and tomato crops i.e. plant height, number of branches plant -1 , number of fruit plant -1 and fruit yield ha -1 followed by along Trichoderma and Pseudomonas. The study showed that T. harzianum and P. fluorescens are the potential bio control agents as compare to Carbendazim 50 WP and can be used effectively for the management of damping off in seedlings in nursery.