Biological control of root born plant pathogens

Biological control of root born plant pathogen is successfully achieved by using arbuscular mycorrhiza seperately and in combination with beneficial antagonistic fungi. Mycorrhizal plants showed a significantly better response when exposed to pathogens as compared to those which did not had a prior inoculum of arbuscular mycorrhiza. Plants when inoculated with beneficial antagonistic fungi like Trichoderma along with arbuscular mycorrhiza, the response was further enhanced. Significant results have been obtained by altering soil and other conditions while manipulating the use of AM and other beneficial antagonistic fungi. The results have shown that the soil mix, which could retain lesser moisture, provides conducive conditions for mycorrhizal fungi and therefore better control of plant diseases. In another segment of the present study pretreatment of seeds/fungal cultures with IAA, NAA and Humic Acid was employed as a possible strategy for bioprotection.

Autorentext
Professor Dr. Ghazala Nasim completed her Ph.D. from the University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan, in 2005. Her field of speialization is Mycology with special emphasis on mycorrhizae. She did Post Doc research at University of Tennessee, USA in 2006-2007 in the area of Molecular Mycology. She has published 130 papers and is author of 10 books.