J. Evanjalin and D. John Christopher
Abstract
Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) is considered as an important edible leguminous oilseed crop belongs to family Fabaceae. The cultivation of groundnut is hindered by several biotic and abiotic stresses. Stem rot disease incited by Sclerotium rolfsii Sacc. is one of the most destructive diseases of peanut and it deteriorates the quality and quantity of peanut. Management of the stem rot was found to be difficult, uneconomical and harmful for the environment. Keeping in view of the residual nature of fungicides on the environment, the idea of bioinoculants was undertaken. Biological control offers a sustainable management of soil borne diseases. The present study was undertaken to find out the efficacy of bioinoculants such as Streptomyces, Rhizobium and Bacillus alone and in combined effect of bioinoculants fortified with Humic acid against stem rot incidences. The groundnut plants were treated in combined application of Streptomyces albofaciens, B. japonicum and Bacillus subtilis fortified with humic acid as seed treatment @ 10g/kg of seeds plus soil application @ 2.5 kg ha-1 (T6) recorded minimum diseases incidence and significantly enhanced the yield parameters.