Seed treatment with Pseudomonas fluorescens was found to be the most effective in minimizing disease incidence and maximizing yield in chickpeas. It recorded the lowest incidence of wilt disease (11.26%) and root rot (1.43%), as well as a high yield of 7.02 q/ha. Seed treatment with the fungicide Tebuconazole also performed well with low disease incidence and a yield of 6.62 q/ha. Maximum germination (95%) and seedling vigor were observed with Benomyl and Tebuconazole treatments. Overall, treatments with bioagents like P. fluorescens or fungicides effectively controlled seed-borne diseases, improved seed quality parameters, and

1. Agricultural Science Research Journal 3(9); pp. 303- 309, September 2013
Available online at http://www.resjournals.com/ARJ
ISSN: 2026 – 6332 ©2013 International Research Journals
Full Length Research Paper
Seed quality enhancement and maximization of yield
through use of bioagents in chickpea
K Kanaka Durga, V Bharathi, Sandeep Varma Vunnam and K Keshavulu
Seed Research and Technology Centre, Acharya N G Ranga Agricultural University Rajendranagar, Hyderabad,
A P, India
Abstract
Experimental studies on chickpea carried out at Seed Research and Technology Center, Rajendranagar,
Hyderabad during rabi, 2010-12 revealed that seed treatment with Pseudomonas fluorescens at 10 g/kg
seed along with soil application of P. fluorescens at 3 kg/acre was found to be the best and effective as
it recorded least incidence of wilt disease (11.26 per cent) and root rot (1.43 per cent) followed by seed
treatment with Tebuconazole (100% Raxil T at 25 g/l = Tebuconazole 4 g/l + Triflunuron) at 1 ml/kg seed
with less incidence of wilt (13.62 per cent) and root rot (0.44 per cent) under field conditions. Seed
treated with Benomyl at 2 ml/kg seed produced maximum yield (7.17 q/ha) but remained at par with the
treatment, P. fluorescens at 10 g/kg seed along with soil application of P. fluorescens at 3 kg/acre (7.02
q/ha) and Tebuconazole at 1 ml/ kg seed (6.62 q/ha). Maximum germination percentage was recorded
with Benomyl (Benomyl 500 WP) at 2 ml/kg seed (treated check) and Tebuconazole at 1 ml/ kg seed (95
per cent) followed by treatment with P. fluorescens at 10 g/kg seed along with soil application of P.
fluorescens at 3 kg/acre (94 per cent). Maximization of growth parameters like root length, shoot length
and total seedling length were observed with Benomyl at 2 ml/ kg seed as 17.0 cm, 10.3 cm and 27.3
cm, respectively. Considering seedling vigour index as an important seed quality character, P.
fluorescens and Benomyl at 2 ml/kg seed recorded high seedling vigor index. The per cent recovery of
infested seeds from the harvest was found to be low with treated seeds compared to the control.
Key words: Chickpea, Seed yield, Seed quality, P. fluorescens and Bio-agents.
INTRODUCTION
Among various pulse crops, chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.)
is considered as one of the oldest crop cultivated both in
Asia and Europe. Among pulses, chickpea has also been
reported to suffer severe yield losses due to various
insect pests and diseases. Of the various diseases, fungi
especially, the wilt caused by species of Fusarium
remains to be a challenging task in terms of management
since it is soil-borne in nature (Agrios, 2000; Singh et al.,
1986). Chickpea is the most nutritive pulse among
different food legumes being extensively used as protein
adjunct to starchy diet.
Seed is the most vital and crucial input for crop
production. Planting quality seed, one of the cheapest
input in crop production, is the key to agricultural
progress. Response of other inputs in crop production
depends on seed material used. Seed quality of chickpea
was affected by incidence of seed borne diseases like
wilt and root rot. Earlier workers reported influence of
cultural, regulatory, physical, chemical and biological
methods on the control of the seed and soil borne
pathogens. In modern agriculture, agrochemicals are
unavoidable, but bio-agents are important components in
integrated pest management programme and sustainable
agriculture. The combined use of bio-control agents and
chemical pesticides has attracted much attention as a
way to obtain synergistic or additive effects in the control
of soil borne pathogens. Among these, chemical methods
offer a good choice to farmer to combat the diseases. But
owing to so many problems in view of ecosystem and
environment, a rapid shift has been made from synthetic
products to bio products, which are eco friendly and
beneficial. Keeping these aspects in view, the present
study was carried out based on preliminary studies to find
out the effect of various bio-agents on seed quality by

2. 304
minimizing the incidence of seed borne diseases and
also increasing soil micro flora.
MATERIAL AND METHODS
Preliminary studies on seed mycoflora of chickpea were
carried out under laboratory conditions and their inhibition
was tested with four fungicides and three bio-agents by
rolled towel and seed inoculation technique. Fungicides
(0.2 and 0.3%) and bio-agents (0.8 and 1%) were tested
in two concentrations against seed pathogenic (root rot
and wilt) fungi. Per cent inhibition of mycelia growth was
carried out by the seed inoculation and seed rolled
technique (Pankaj Sharma, 2010).
Seed inoculation technique
Healthy surface sterilized seeds (1:1000 mercuric
chloride) of cultivar Annegiri were artificially inoculated
with 7 days old culture of fungal species separately.
Inoculated seeds were treated with fungicides. The
treated seeds were placed on the moist blotter paper in
plates at 5 seeds/plate. Inoculated untreated seeds
served as control. Observations were recorded after 10
days of incubation.
In-vitro evaluation of fungicides by seed rolled towel
method
Seeds were treated with fungicides by following wet seed
treatment with 0.2 per cent and 0.3 per cent fungicidal
solution. Seeds were soaked in the fungicidal solutions
for 2 hrs. Then the seeds were dried under shade. Three
replications of 50 seeds per treatment were tested in
moist paper towel (rolled towel) method. The plates were
incubated in BOD incubator at 20±2°
C under 12 hrs of
light and 12 hrs dark. The untreated samples served as
control. The per cent germination and per cent infection
were recorded.
In-vitro evaluation of bio-agents by rolled paper towel
method
The powder formulation of antagonist’s viz., Trichoderma
viride, Bacillus subtilis and Pseudomonas fluorescence
were used for seed treatment to test their efficacy in
overcoming seed borne fungal infection of chickpea
under in-vitro conditions by rolled towel method. Seeds of
moderately infected chickpea were treated with different
bio-agents at the rate of 0.8 and 1.0 per cent. The seeds
were shaken in shaker for 20 min for the coating of bio-
agents formulation and then stored in separate boxes for
24 hrs. The treated seeds were tested in 5 replications of
50 seeds per replication. Seeds without treatment served
as control. These paper towels were incubated at 20±2
°
C
for seven days under 12 hrs light and 12 hrs darkness.
After 7 days of incubation, per cent germination, per cent
infection and seedling vigor were calculated as stated
earlier.
Based on the above findings of in-vitro conditions, the
field study was taken up at Seed Research and
Technology Centre, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad during
Rabi, 2010–2012. Treatments comprising of bio-agents,
fungicides and their combinations viz., Trichoderma viride
at 10 g/kg seed, soil application of T. viride at 2 kg/acre,
Bacillus subtilis at 5 g/kg seed, Benomyl (Benomyl 500
WP) at 2 ml/kg seed, Pseudomonas fluorescens at 10
g/kg seed, combination of Trichoderma viride at 10 g/kg
seed + soil application of T. viride at 2 kg/acre,
combination of B. subtilis at 5 g/kg seed + Benomyl at 2
ml/kg seed (treated check), AMISTAR (23% w/w
azoxystrobin) at 1 g/kg seed, Tebuconazole (100% Raxil
T at 25 g/l = Tebuconazole 4 g/l + Triflunuron) at 1 ml/kg
seed, P. fluorescens at 10 g/kg seed + foliar spray of P.
fluorescens at 6-10 g/l, P. fluorescens at 10 g/kg seed +
soil application of P. fluorescens at 3 kg/acre along with
untreated check were imposed. The experiment was laid
out in a randomized block design in three replications
with all the recommended agronomic practices.
Observations on various disease parameters such as
crop stand, per cent disease incidence of wilt and root rot
was assessed. Yield attributing characters viz., plant
height, branches per plant, pods per plant, seeds per
plot, seed yield per plot (g), seed yield per ha (q) and
100 seed weight (g) were recorded for 10 randomly
selected plants from each treatment. Various seed quality
parameters like germination percentage, root length (cm),
shoot length (cm), total seedling length and seedling
vigor index I were studied under laboratory conditions as
per the ISTA rules (1985) and expressed in percentage.
Ten normal seedlings were selected at random in each
replication for recording seedling length in centimeters
(cm) and oven dried at 80o
C for 17 h and weighed (g) for
seedling dry weight. Seed vigor index I was calculated
with seedling length (Abdul-Baki and Anderson, 1973).
Average values were computed and the data was
subjected to statistical analysis (Panse and Sukhatme,
1985).
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
All the fungicides and bio-agents significantly reduced
mycelia growth as compared to control. Minimum per
cent mycelia growth was observed in Tebuconazole
tested against Aspergillus niger. The per cent inhibition in
mycelia growth was in the range of 24.9 to 96 per cent in
different tested fungicides (Table 1). Among the
fungicides tested, benomyl was found effective followed
by Pseudomonas in the inhibition of mycelial growth of

3. 305
Table 1. Effect of fungicides and bio-agents on % germination, % infection and vigour index of chickpea variety, Annegiri
Treatment Per cent germination Per cent infection Vigour index
0.8
conc.
1.0
conc.
Mean 0.8 conc. 1.0
conc.
Mean 0.8
conc.
1.0
conc.
Mean
Trichoderma sp. 72.02 72.18 72.10 26.58 25.42 22.00 1581 1608 1594
(58.09) (59.16) (50.15) (24.12) (24.09) (20.23)
Bacillus subtilis 70.46 72.39 71.42 30.14 25.46 27.80 1321 1448 1385
(56.20) (59.65) (58.09) (27.70) (22.12) (21.16)
Pseudomonas sp. 84.12 84.87 84.49 20.58 16.25 18.41 1706 1728 1717
(68.07) (68.28) (68.02) (18.09) (21.25) (16.36)
2%
conc.
3%
conc.
Mean 2%
conc.
3%
conc.
Mean 2%
conc.
3%
conc.
Mean
Amistar 78.00 84.12 81.06 19.50 19.75 20.62 882 776 829
(62.05) (66.18) (62.42) (15.87) (16.10) (15.95)
Tebuconazole 83.25 83.56 83.40 24.72 20.66 18.60 1417 1522 1469
(68.65) (66.61) (66.16) (22.01) (19.36) (19.25)
Carbendazim 73.80 75.26 79.03 20.65 18.93 19.79 1267 1348 1323
(59.61) (60.23) (60.14) (18.96)) (15.26) (17.68)
Benomyl 90.60 93.52 92.03 16.25 16.58 16.41 1576 1668 1622
(72.17) (75.26) (74.83) (24.02) (22.60) (22.03)
Control 54.26 58.50 55.38 53.80 56.25 55.02 758 758 758
(48.30) (49.05) (42.86) (47.02) (49.76) (48.97)
S.Em.+ 0.46 0.17 0.46 0.31 0.28 0.68 21.32 19.76 30.10
1.26 0.68 2.30 1.2 1.57 1.13 78.20 54.32 112
Fusarium solani. These results are in agreement with
those of Singh and Jha (2003).
At higher concentration, all fungicides were found
effective in controlling seed borne mycoflora. These
results are in agreement with the findings of Pankaj
Sharma (2010) where the seed borne mycoflora was
effectively controlled by fungicides. At higher
concentration, the metabolic activities of all fungi could be
arrested and they are able to arrest new fungal growth as
the metabolic activities completely destroyed at higher
concentration (Ibiam et al., 2006).
The bio-agents were tested for their efficacy against
seed borne fungal infection of chickpea by rolled paper
towel method. Among the three (Table 2) bio-agents
tested, Pseudomonas fluorescence Migula showed
minimum seed infection, maximum per cent germination
and vigor index of 17.23, 84.49 and 1717, respectively
and which differed significantly from seed treatment with
Trichoderma viride Rifai and Bacillus subtilis. Seed
treatment with 1.0 per cent concentration of
Pseudomonsa fluorescence Migula exhibited seed
infection of 16.25 per cent, germination of 84.87 per cent
and vigour index of 1728, where as it was found similar
with benomyl treatement in maximizing vigour index.
Seed treatment with Trichoderma viride was found
ineffective as it resulted in seed infection of 22 per cent,
with a germination and vigor index of 72.10 and 1594,
respectively. Similar work was carried out by
Manoranjitham et al. (2003) who reported effective
control of coriander wilt by seed treatment with
Pseudomonas. Seed treatment with strains of
Pseudomonas increased emergence and yield of pigeon
pea planted in fusarium infested soil and were equivalent
to fungicidal seed treatment (Gupta et al., 2011).
Disease incidence: The per cent wilt incidence ranged
from 11.26 to 22.95 and the root rot incidence varied from
0.44 to 4.88 during crop growth period. Results (Table 3)
revealed that all the treatments varied significantly for wilt
and root rot incidence and enhanced the seed yield and
test weight over unsprayed control. Among the
treatments, seed treatment with P. fluorescens at 10 g/kg
seed along with soil application of P. fluorescens at 3
kg/acre effectively controlled the wilt disease and
recorded least incidence of wilt (11.26 per cent) followed
by seed treatment with B. subtilis at 5 g/kg seed +
Benomyl at 2 ml/kg seed, which recorded a total
incidence of 13.33 per cent.
With respect to root rot disease, seed treatment with P.
fluorescens at 10 g/kg seed along with soil application of
P. fluorescens at 3 kg/acre (1.43 per cent) resulted in
less incidence. In addition, seed treatment with
Tebuconazole at 1 ml/kg seed effectively controlled the
disease (0.44 per cent) under field conditions followed by
Benomyl at 2 ml/kg seed (1.22 per cent). Gupta et al.
(2011) reported similar results of effective control of

4. 306
Table 2. Effect of fungicides and bio-agents on mycelial growth inhibition of seed mycoflora
Treatments Alternariaalternata Fusariumsolani Aspergillusflavus Colletotrichum spp.
Trichoderma sp. 80.02 70.62 71.25 83.25
(78.52) (67.80) (68.45) (78.42)
Bacillus subtilis 72.46 82.42 75.03 78.98
(66.20) (65.46) (72.64) (75.86)
Pseudomonas sp. 83.44 86.81 80.64 72.34
(80.82) (79.61) (78.91) (69.75)
Amistar 65.45 76.50 82.78 69.30
(54.61) (73.93) (79.86) (64.74)
Tebuconazole 82.36 84.70 24.96 82.70
(74.90) (76.22) (21.22) (77.62)
Carbendazim 80.22 82.63 83.66 85.84
(73.41) (76.10) (79.64) (81.70)
Benomyl 67.64 96.54 84.05 69.36
(63.61) (91.56) (80.56) (67.12)
Control 86.80 84.63 86.25 75.03
(80.42) (79.71) (80.06) (73.89)
C.V. (%) 1.26 2.86 1.34 1.25
C.D. (0.05) 2.13 4.04 2.07 2.16
pigeon pea wilt caused by F. udum using talc - based
formulation of P. fluorescens The efficacy of bio-agents,
their proliferation in rhizosphere and influencing the
rhizosphere microflora has been reported earlier by many
workers (Rovira, 2008).
Perusal of the data on both the diseases revealed that
the treatment with P. fluorescens at 10 g/kg seed along
with soil application of P. fluorescens at 3 kg/acre was
the best and effective as it recorded least incidence of
both diseases (11.26 per cent and 1.43 per cent,
respectively). As per the results of Kar and Sahu (2009),
P. fluorescens and B. subtilis were found effective in
controlling the disease by recording the disease
incidence of 10.67 per cent and 12 per cent, respectively
under field conditions.
Effect on seed yield: Among all the treatments studied,
P. fluorescens at 10 g/kg seed along with soil application
of P. fluorescens at 3 kg/acre (7.02 q/ha) recorded
maximum yield and was at par with treatment Benomyl at
2 ml/kg seed which recorded maximum yield (7.17 q/ha)
(Table 4). Considering yield contributing characters, seed
yield/ha ranged from 5.27 q/ha to 7.17 q/ha. Maximum
yield was obtained with three treatments viz., Benomyl at
2 ml/kg seed and P. fluorescens at 10 g/kg seed + soil
application of P. fluorescens at 3 kg/acre and
Tebuconazole at 1 ml/kg seed and all the three
treatments were significantly different from control.
Highest yield with these three treatments was reflected in
the number of pods per plant which recorded 83.3, 81.2
and 77.7 pods per plant, respectively. Hence, pods per
plant can be considered as an important yield attributing
character in chickpea. Further it is interesting to note that
Tebuconazole and Benomyl were found effective in
controlling root rot incidence besides exhibiting
superiority for seed yield. Similarly, P. fluorescens at 10
g/kg seed along with foliar spray of P. fluorescens at 6-10
g/l was found effective in reducing wilt incidence and
increasing yield. Raguchander et al. (1998) reported that
seed pelleting with B. subtilis effectively controlled
soybean root- rot caused by Macrophomina phaseolina
and increased the grain yield. Kamdi et al. (2012)
reported that seed treatment with Trichoderma viride was
found effective followed by Bacillus subtilis in chickpea
for increasing seed germination, reducing wilt incidence
and increasing yield.
Effect on seed quality: Seed quality is the one of the
most important basic input characterized in terms of
longer viability and good vigor. Besides quantity of seed
realized and their effectiveness in reducing disease
incidence, quality of seed also plays an important role in
adjudging the performance of bio-agents for chickpea
crop. Combination of P. fluorescens at 10 g/kg seed
along with foliar spray of P. fluorescens at 6-10 g/l
recorded minimum germination of 83.0 per cent (Table
5). While, maximum germination was recorded with
Binomial seed treatment at 2 ml/kg seed and
Tebuconazole at 1 ml/ kg seed (95 per cent) followed by
treatment with P. fluorescens at 10 g/kg seed along with
soil application of P. fluorescens at 3 kg/acre (94 per
cent). Similar results of plant growth promotion and
reduced wilt incidence by P. fluorescens in pigeonpea
was reported by Gupta et al. (2011). Similarly, root

5. 307
Table 3. Disease incidence in chickpea at different growth stages of the crop during rabi, 2011-12
Treatments Wilt incidence Total % wilt
incidence
Root rot incidence
Total %
root
incidence45 DAS 64 DAS 75 DAS 87 DAS 64 DAS 75 DAS 87 DAS
Trichoderma viride at 10 g/ kg seed 2.56 6.85 8.25 17.00 17.00 0.93 0.71 0.42 2.06
Soil application of T. viride at 2 kg/
acre 2.58 4.19 4.66 15.02 15.02 0.45 0.23 1.41 2.10
Bacillus subtilis at 5 g/ kg seed 1.19 1.39 2.06 22.05 22.05 0.68 0.63 1.30 2.61
Benomyl at 2 ml/kg seed 2.66 1.74 3.17 19.41 19.41 0.64 0.21 0.37 1.22
Pseudomonas fluorescensat 10 g/ kg
seed 1.89 3.28 5.02 17.28 17.28 1.74 1.64 1.50 4.88
Combination of T1 + T2 1.94 4.12 4.28 19.04 19.04 0.52 1.02 2.22 3.76
Combination of T3 + T4 (B. subtilis at 5
g/ kg seed + Benomyl at 2 ml/kg seed) 0.45 5.22 6.63 13.33 13.33 0.68 0.68 1.34 2.71
AMISTAR (Azoxystrobin) at 1 g/kg
seed 1.21 3.20 8.31 17.30 17.30 0.00 0.30 1.43 1.73
Tebuconazole at 1 ml/kg seed 0.57 1.58 1.64 13.62 13.62 0.19 0.25 0.00 0.44
P. fluorescens at 10 g/ kg seed + foliar
spray of P. fluorescens at 6-10 g/l 0.00 3.72 4.12 17.25 17.25 0.82 0.72 0.82 2.35
P. fluorescens at 10 g/ kg seed + soil
application of P. fluorescens at 3
kg/acre 0.00 4.76 5.88 11.26 11.26 0.38 0.83 0.22 1.43
Control 1.47 5.36 6.37 22.95 22.95 0.48 1.42 1.17 3.07
length, shoot length and total seedling length were
highest in case of seed treatment with Benomyl at
2 ml/ kg seed (17.0 cm, 10.3 cm and 27.3 cm
respectively). Considering seedling vigor index as
an important seed quality character, Benomyl at
2ml/ kg seed recorded high seedling vigor index
(2588) followed by bio-agents. Further, the per
cent disease infested seeds were also found to be
low with P. fluorescens seed treatment. Hence
seed quality can be enhanced by P. fluorescens
instead of chemicals with reduced wilt and root rot
incidence.
CONCLUSION
Seed treatment with P. fluorescens at 8-10 g/kg
seed along with soil application of the same at 3
kg acre
-1
in wet soil can be recommended to
enhance seed yield and crop growth. In addition
Tebuconazole and Benomyl (treated check) also
results in reduced wilt incidence. Use of bio-
pesticides can be used as one of the components
of organic farming for increased sustainable
agricultural production in an eco-friendly manner.
Hence the bio-agents and the fungicide
combinations can be incorporated either as one of
the components or combined with other
components in the integrated pest management.

6. 308
Table 4. Yield and yield components of chickpea during rabi, 2011-12
Treatments
Plant
height cm)
Branches /
Plant (no.)
Pods /
plant (no.)
Seeds /
pod (no.)
Seed yield
/plot (g)
Seed yield
(q/ha)
100 seed
weight (g)
Trichoderma viride at 10 g/ kg seed 38.8 12.5 64.7 1.1 538.2 5.61 19.97
Soil application of T. viride at 2 kg/ acre 41.2 10.3 54.8 1.1 518.4 5.40 20.80
Bacillus subtilis at 5 g/ kg seed 40.3 10.0 61.9 1.0 514.9 5.36 19.63
Benomyl at 2 ml/kg seed 37.7 8.0 83.3 1.2 687.9 7.17 22.90
Pseudomonas fluorescens at 10 g/ kg seed 36.9 8.5 53.5 1.1 505.9 5.27 19.10
Combination of T1 + T2 39.6 7.7 69.0 1.2 569.6 5.93 21.00
Combination of T3 + T4 (B. subtilis at 5 g/ kg seed + Benomyl at 2 ml/kg seed) 38.9 8.3 71.7 1.2 582.3 6.07 20.77
AMISTAR (Azoxystrobin) at 1 g/kg seed 39.2 9.1 68.7 1.2 505.8 5.27 22.40
Tebuconazole at 1 ml/kg seed 38.0 8.1 77.7 1.2 662.0 6.90 20.53
P. fluorescens at 10 g/ kg seed + foliar spray of P. fluorescens at 6-10 g/l 40.8 8.4 62.1 1.2 533.7 5.56 20.40
P. fluorescens at 10 g/ kg seed + soil application of P. fluorescens at 3 kg/acre 37.7 10.5 81.2 1.2 673.9 7.02 20.03
Control 37.1 10.3 73.8 1.2 603.5 6.29 18.60
Gr. Mean 38.84 9.31 68.54 1.18 574.67 5.99 20.51
S. Em 2.40 0.95 11.19 0.08 35.91 0.37 1.10
S. Ed 3.40 1.34 15.83 0.11 50.78 0.53 1.56
C.D. (5%) 7.04 2.78 32.76 0.22 105.12 1.10 3.23
C . V % 10.72 17.66 28.28 11.08 10.82 10.82 9.33
Table 5. Seed quality characters of chickpea during rabi, 2011-12
Treatments
Germination % Root length
(cm)
Shoot
length (cm)
Total seedling
length (cm)
SVI I
% disease
infested seedFirst count Final count
Trichoderma virideat 10 g/ kg seed 92 92 12.7 7.4 20.1 1849 20
Soil application of T. viride at 2 kg/ acre 81 92 13.5 7.5 21.0 1917 19
Bacillus subtilis at 5 g/ kg seed 85 87 14.6 7.1 21.7 1890 21
Benomyl at 2 ml/kg seed 92 95 17.0 10.3 27.3 2588 12
Pseudomonas fluorescen sat 10 g/ kg seed 92 93 13.9 8.3 22.2 2064 30
Combination of T1 + T2 91 93 13.7 8.0 21.7 2026 18
Combination of T3 + T4 (B. subtilis at 5 g/ kg seed + Benomyl at 2
ml/kg seed) 84 86 13.5 6.0 19.5 1670 15
AMISTAR (Azoxystrobin) at 1 g/kg seed 88 89 14.1 6.6 20.7 1845 23
Tebuconazole at 1 ml/kg seed 90 95 15.1 7.3 22.4 2115 13
P. fluorescens at 10 g/ kg seed + foliar spray of P. fluorescens at 6-10 g/l 90 83 13.8 6.5 20.4 1688 22
P. fluorescens at 10 g/ kg seed + soil application of P. fluorescens at
3 kg/acre 90 94 14.8 7.6 22.4 2106 14
Control 78 84 12.9 7.2 20.1 1694 24
Gr. Mean 87.8 90.1 14.1 7.5 21.6 1955 19.33
S. Em 2.92 2.77 0.36 0.30 0.55 105.54 4.81
S. Ed 4.13 3.92 0.51 0.43 0.78 149.23 6.81
C.D. (5%) 8.55 8.10 1.05 0.88 1.62 308.9 14.09
C . V % 5.77 5.32 4.40 6.97 4.42 9.35 43.14

7. 309
REFERENCES
Abdul-Baki AA, Anderson JD (1973). Vigor determination in
soybean seed by multiple criteria. Crop Sci. 13: 630-633.
Agrios GN (2000). Significance of plant disease. pp. 25-37. In:
Agrios, G.N. (Ed.), Plant Pathology. Academic Press,
London.
Gupta V, Dolly K, Razda VK, Ichpal S (2011). Integrated
management of pigeonpea wilt. J. Mycol. Plant Pathol, 41:
573-578.
Ibiam OFA, Umechuruba CI, Arinze AE (2006). Seed borne
fungi associated with seeds of rice (Oryza sativa L.) in
storage and from the field in ohaozara and onicha local
government area of Ebony State. World J. Biotech. 7: 1062 -
1072
International Seed Testing Association (1985). International
rules for seed testing. Seed Sci. Technol. 27(Supplement):30-
35.
Kamdi DR, Mondhe MK, Jadesha G, Kshirsagar DN, Thakur
KD (2012). Efficacy of botanicals, bio-agents and fungicides
against Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. ciceri, in chickpea wilt sick
plot. Annal Biol. Res. 3(11):5390-5392.
Kar AK, Sahu KC (2009). Deterioration of seed quality in
mungbean by Macrophomina phaseolina (Tarr.) Goid and its
management. Seed Res. 37(1&2): 139-149
Manoranjitham SK, Rabindram R, Doraiswamy S (2003).
Management of seed borne pathogens and wilt disease of
coriander. Madras Agric. J. 90: 4-6.
Pankaj SD (2010). Evaluation of seed dressing fungicides
against pathogenic seed mycoflora of pea. Indian J. Plant
Protection. 38: 76-79.
Panse VG, Sukhatme PT (1985). Statistical Methods for
Agricultural Workers, EDS Indian Council of Agricultural
Research, New Delhi. p.145.
Raguchander T, Rajappan K, Samiappan R (1998). Influence of
bio-control agents and organic amendment on soybean root
rot. Int. J. Tropical Agri. 35: 23-29.
Rovira AD (2008). Microbial inoculation of plants. I.
Establishment of free living N2 fixing bacteria in the
rhizosphere and their effects on maize, tomato and wheat.
Plant and Soil. 19: 304-314
Singh DK, Jha (2003). Effect of fungicidal seed treatment
against chickpea wilt caused by Fusarium oxysporum f .sp.
ciceri. J. Applied Biol. 13:41-45.
Singh G, Kapoor S, Gill AS, Singh K (1986). Chickpea varieties
resistant to Fusarium wilt and root rot. Indian J. Agric. Sci.
56(5): 344-346