www.tjprc.org editor@tjprc.org MODE OF ACTION OF CHICKPEA ANTAGONISTIC BACTERIA ON RHIZOCTONIA BATATICOLA UNDER IN VITRO G AMRUTHA VEENA 1 , N P ESWARA REDDY 2 , B V BHASKARA REDDY 3 & A RANGA RANI 4 1,2,4 Department of Plant Pathology, S.V Agricultural College, ANGRAU, Tirupati ,Andhra Pradesh, India 3 Department of Plant Pathology, Institute of Frontier Technology, ANGRAU, Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh, India ABSTRACT The in vitro volatile experimental results revealed that, out of three endophytic and one rhizospheric chickpea bacteria tested against Rhizoctonia bataticola, causal agent of dry root rot, volatile metabolites produced by antagonistic bacteria (CREB-16) showed highest inhibition to an extent of 77.77%, followed by CRB-6 (72.22%) and CREB-13 (71.11%). CRB-13 showed least inhibiton (55.55%) over control. Non volatile metabolites has no inhibitory action upon the pathogen for all four bacteria. KEYWORDS: Chickpea, Rhizoctonia Bataticola, CREB-16, CREB-13, CREB-6, CRB-13, Volatiles, Non Volatiles Received: Oct 18, 2016; Accepted: Oct 21, 2016; Published: Nov 03, 2016; Paper Id.: IJASRDEC201632 INTRODUCTION Chickpea is the third important legume grown around the world, which has world wide acceptance as a major source of protein and essential amino acids for human as well as for animal consumption. India is the leading producer of chickpea contributing to about 70 per cent of the world’s chickpea production (Anonymous, 2014-2015). Chickpea suffers from several fungal diseases, out of these dry root rot (Rhizoctonia bataticola (Taub.) Butler) cause considerable yield losses in chickpea which may be as high as 50 to 71 per cent (Ahmed and Mohammad, 1986). Soil borne pathogens are difficult to control because of their wide host range and long term survival in the soil. Biological control using native microbial antagonists is considered as good alternative of management of root diseases in many crops (Cook and Baker, 1983). Taking into consideration the above facts, the present investigation has been formulated to know the mechanism of antagonism of chickpea rhizospheric and endophytic bacteria against Rhizoctonia bataticola. MATERIALS AND METHODS Isolation of Pathogen The pathogen was isolated from dry root rot infected chickpea plants by using tissue segment method (Rangaswamy and Mahadevan, 1999). Identification of Pathogen The pathogen was identified based on its mycelial and sclerotial characters as described by Barnett and Barry (1972). Original Article International Journal of Agricultural Science and Research (IJASR) ISSN(P): 2250-0057; ISSN(E): 2321-0087 Vol. 6, Issue 6, Dec 2016, 221-226 © TJPRC Pvt. Ltd