Accepted Article Management of wilt disease of chickpea in vivo by silver nanoparticles; biosynthesized by rhizospheric microflora of chickpea (Cicer arietinum) Pawan Kaur a , Rajesh Thakur b *, Joginder Singh Duhan a and Ashok Chaudhary b a Department of Biotechnology, Chaudhary Devi Lal University, Sirsa -125055, India b Department of Bio and Nano Technology, Guru Jambheshwar University of Science and Technology, Hisar -125001, India *Corresponding author: E-mail: rthakur99@rediffmail.com ; M: +91-9812700293; Off: +91- 1662-263514; Abstract BACKGROUND: This work reports the isolation and screening of rhizospheric microflora of chickpea and their role in the biosynthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs). The antifungal potential of AgNPs for control of wilt disease of chickpea, caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. ciceri (FOC) was evaluated in vitro and in vivo pot experiments. The effect of AgNPs on seed germination and soil community was also evaluated. RESULTS: Among microbial strains, two bacteria as Pseudomonas sp. and Achromobacter sp. and two fungi as Trichoderma sp. and Cephalosporium sp. were identified for biosynthesis of AgNPs. AgNPs were confirmed by UV-visible spectra (λ = 420 nm) and Transmission electron microscope (TEM) with size 20-50 nm. AgNPs showed very high antifungal activity (95 %) against FOC in vitro at 100 μgml -1 concentration. Pot experiments showed maximum and minimum reduction in wilt incidence over control i.e. 73.33 % for AgNPs and copper-oxychloride (CuOCl) i.e. 26.67 %, respectively. Seeds coated with AgNPs showed high germinability up to 98 % and no negative impact was observed on soil community. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated the role of AgNPs against the fungal disease of chickpea that can be extended to other diseases of chickpea and other important Indian crops. Keywords: Biosynthesis; chickpea; fusarium wilt disease; rhizo-microflora; silver nanoparticles. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. This article has been accepted for publication and undergone full peer review but has not been through the copyediting, typesetting, pagination and proofreading process, which may lead to differences between this version and the Version of Record. Please cite this article as doi: 10.1002/jctb.5680