Management of Bacterial Wilt of Tomato Caused by Ralstonia solanacearum (Smith) Yabuuchi et al Using Biological Control Agents

Abstract

Biological control agents, Glomus mosseae IIHR, Bacillus subtilis IIHR-1, Pseudomonas fluorescens IIHR+3, Trichoderma harzianum IIHR P1 and T. viride IIHR P22 were evaluated against tomato wilt caused by Ralstonia solanacearum in pathogen-infested plots during 2003-2004. Microbial preparations were applied either as transplant root dips or root dip plus soil drench 30 days after transplanting. Per cent survivability increased with the use of all biological control agents tested. However, G. mosseae treated plants resulted in better survival (25.75 and 28.79% in root dip alone and 60 and 66.67% in root dip plus drench against untreated control 0 and 1.5% during 2003 and 2004 respectively), compared to the rest of the treatments, suggesting G. mosseae amendment to pathogen-infested soil would result in substantially higher plant survival against the untreated controls.