06-08-2013, 04:45 PM
Biocontrol agents against the Corm rot of Saffron
ABSTRACT
Crocus sativus is the most fascinating and intriguing plant species and Saffron, the stigma of its flower is often called “The Golden Spice”. It is a temperate and low growing herb and Saffron is used in pharmaceuticals and healthcare products as well as a flavoring and coloring agent in foods. Saffron, being sterile, has unique corm–root life cycle and reproduces vegetatively by underground bulb like structure known as corms. Although, India ranks third after Iran and Spain in the production of this economically important spice, the production suffers due to corm rot disease caused by Fungi, Fusarium oxysporum and F. monoliforme being the major threat. In order to address this issue, an initiative for isolation of PGPB from different parts of Saffron showing antagonistic activity against the corm rot causative agent i.e. Fusarium sp. was undertaken. PGPB were isolated from the Rhizosphere, Rhizoplane, Endorhizosphere, Cormosphere, Endocormosphere and Bulk soil for screening of antagonistic activity against the causative fungi. WBF2 and KBF5 strains were able to show biocontrol activity against the causative fungus. These bacteria were identified based on microscopic and biochemical traits for preliminary identification and sequence homology of 16S rDNA, amplified using universal primers Bac 8F and Univ 529R, sequenced and analyzed with the help of BLAST tool. Biocontrol activity will be further confirmed by pot assay and field trials.