SCREENING OF ACTINOMYCETES EFFECTS AGAINST PATHOGEN CAUSING BACTERIAL BLIGHT OF POMEGRANATEM. M. Bendigeri, G.R. Pathade, S.G. Chonde and Y.C. AttarAbstract Pomegranate is called âfruit of paradiseâ due to its versatile uses. Its fruit, leaves, stem all have nutritional as well as medicinal uses. However, pomegranate yield is adversely affected by infection of plant by various plant pathogens. One of the major harmful diseases is bacterial blight of pomegranate [commonly known as âtelya diseaseâ] caused by Xanthomonas axonopodis PV punicae. The pathogen affects the fruit, leaves as well as stem. A variety of approaches have been tried to control the disease including cultivation methods, use of botanicals, use of antibiotics, use of chemicals etc. However, no single therapy has been found to be a sure shot control method. The current research work has been designed to achieve the control of disease using biological agent. Here, specifically actinomycetes were isolated from healthy pomegranate cultivated soils. During this research, 24 different actinomycete cultures were isolated and purified. All these cultures were tested for antagonistic activity against bacterial blight pathogen by giant colony technique. The antagonistic activity was determined by calculating inhibition ratio. The inhibition ratio is the ratio of total length of inhibitory area to the total length of streak line. Some actinomycete isolates showed promising antagonistic activity against Xanthomonas axonopodis. Further work is in progress. |