Wilt of eggplant caused by Ralstonia solanacearum is a seriously damaging, soil-borne, vascular disease having multiple solanaceous hosts. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), on the other hand, are commonly occurring symbiotic fungi that live with the majority of crop plants. The present experiment was aimed to investigate the efficacy of mycorrhiza (Glomus mosseae) to manage wilt disease of brinjal caused by R. solanacearum. The experiment was conducted in pots in the net house maintaining artificial inoculated condition. Mycorrhization by G. mosseae exhibited significant variation in vegetative parameters viz. plant height, shoot length, root length, fresh weight and dry weight at three important growth stages viz. 30, 60 and 90 Days After Transplanting (DAT) compared to non-mycorrhized brinjal plants. Mycorrhization of brinjal plants by G. mosseae resulted significantly taller eggplant plants (29.4, 37.3 and 52.9 cm), root length (16.71, 16.89 and 18.91 cm), root fresh weight (5.68, 6.51 and 7.2 g), and root dry weight (0.64, 0.65 and 0.83 g) than co-inoculation of R. solanacearum and G. mosseae at 30, 60 and 90 DAT respectively. Moreover, wilt incidence was lower (16.51, 11.93 and 4.68 %) in co-inoculated plants with R. solanacearum and G. mosseae than the plants (31.42, 43.58 and 80.00 %) inoculated with R. solanacearum alone at all growth stages. Spore density of G. mosseae (125, 144, 176 /100 g soil), percentage of mycorrhized roots (36.67, 60.00 and 76.70 %) remained higher in G. mosseae inoculated soil at three growth stages. Significant reduction of bacterial population (R. solanacearum) in soil was found in co-inoculation with R. solanacearum and G. mosseae compared to R. solanacearum alone. It is revealed that application of G. mosseae ensure better vegetative growth of eggplants and effectively reduce bacterial (R. solanacearum) colonies in soil and persistently maintain the population of G. mosseae.
Key words: Bacterial wilt, Ralstonia solanacearum, Eggplant, Glomus mosseae, Tolerance
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