Vol. 11, Issue 12 (2022)

Damping off disease is one of the major constraints to profitable cowpea production in all agro-ecological zones where the crop is grown. In recent times, the use of rhizospheric proteobacteria is gaining importance for plant growth-promotion and biological control. Rhizospheric proteobacteria can reduce the disease severity in many crops through induced resistance phenomenon. In the present investigation, the effect of plant growth promoting rhizospheric proteobacteria on damping off disease development and growth parameters in cow pea seedlings were studied. The best reduction in pre and post emergence damping off in cowpea seedlings was observed with seven rhizobacterial isolates, i.e., VE1, VE5, VE3, VE2, VE7 VE23 and VE39 which were found to be antagonistic against both the soil-borne pathogens. VE7 was found to be potent antagonistic bacteria against two soil borne pathogen. Highest mycelial inhibition of R. solani was recorded 58.89% and 52.78% respectively, when challenged with VE19 and VE7 isolates. The rhizobacterial isolates VE32 and VE7 exhibited maximum mycelial inhibition (62.22% and 60.56%, respectively) against S. sclerotiorum. Among the fourteen native rhizobacterial isolates, the isolate VE20 followed by VE4 and VE41 were found to be best plant growth promoter compared to other rhizobacterial isolates. Highest root length were recorded in VE10 and shoot length were recorded in VE7 treated plants. The activation of the defense reactions by these isolates was correlated with an enhanced resistance to damping-off caused by S. rolfsii and R. solani. This study demonstrated the ability of the rhizobacterial isolates may be in future be used as microbial consortia for sustainable plant health management.