EFFECT OF PLANT GROWTH-PROMOTING STREPTOMYCES SP. ON PLANT GROWTH AND YIELD OF TOMATO AND CHILLI

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V. SRINIVAS, S. GOPALAKRISHNAN*, J. PRASAD KAMIDI AND G. CHANDER

International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Patancheru 502 324, Telangana, India

ABSTRACT

The family Solanaceae contains many vegetable species having great economic importance in agriculture. Tomato and chilli are the two most important vegetable crops in this family that are rich in essential nutrient and antioxidants . Plant growthpromoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) are widely reported to have beneficial effect on crop plants as they colonize on roots and accelerate plant growth by many ways. Ten strains of Streptomyces sp. viz. CAI-17, CAI-24, CAI-26, CAI-78, CAI-121,CAI127, KAI-26, KAI-27, KAI-32 and MMA-32 were reported earlier by ICRISAT microbiologist group, to have plant growthpromoting (PGP) potential in rice, sorghum and chickpea; biocontrol potential against charcoal rot in sorghum and Fusarium wilt in chickpea. In the present investigation, the above ten strains were further evaluated for their PGP effect on growth and yield of tomato and chilli under field conditions. All the tested strains significantly enhanced growth parameters including plant height, number of branches and yield over the un-inoculated control. Among the ten strains, CAI-17, CAI-24 and KAI-32 were found to significantly enhance the yield of tomato while CAI-24, CAI-26 and KAI-32 strains significantly enhanced the yield of chilli over the un-inoculated control. Consortia of all ten strains also significantly enhanced the yield of chilli but not tomato. It is concluded that the selected strains of Streptomyces can be exploited for the growth promotion of tomato and chilli.

KEYWORDS:

Tomato, chilli, actinomycetes, Streptomyces spp., plant growth-promotion