Rhizobacterial Bioformulation : An approach to manage bacterial blight of rice

Biological control of plant diseases with antagonistic bacteria is now considered as a promising alternative to the use of fungicides. Fluorescent pseudomonads have been widely used for control of diseases caused by soil-borne plant pathogens. Fluorescent pseudomonads are also known to survive and multiply in the phyllosphere after application, and induce disease resistance against foliar pathogens. Hence, several attempts have been made to control foliar diseases with applications of cell suspension of fluorescent pseudomonads. A cell suspension has been found effective in controlling foliar diseases however this method seems to be impractical because of difficulty in handling, transport and storage of cell suspension. Therefore present study has undertaken to prepare bioformulation of powdered substrate so that it can improve product stability, shelf life and also protect bacteria against environmental extremes and provide initial food source.