Identification of Fluorescent Pseudomonas Isolates with Potential Biocontrol activity from the Rhizosphere of Crops

Native fluorescent Pseudomonas isolates from the rhizosphere of various crops grown in the state of Karnataka in southern India were isolated, identified and screened for their ability to act as biological control agents for economically important fungal plant pathogens. Ninety two Pseudomonas isolates were isolated from the rhizosphere soil of different crop plants from the farms of the University of Agricultural Sciences, Raichur (India) and surrounding villages, Dharwad and IIHR, Bangalore using specific medium. All the isolates were found to be gram-negative rods. Among these, 66 isolates produced the characteristic yellow pigmentation and showed fluorescence. The isolates were categorized into four groups based on siderophore production (high, moderate, low and no production) and evaluated for the presence of pvdA, phl and plt genes associated with siderophore production, DAPG and pyoluteorin respectively. None of them appeared to carry the pvdA and plt genes. However, one isolate RPF-13 was found to carry the phl gene based on gene specific PCR results. This DAPG+ve isolate was identified as Pseudomonas putida by 16s r DNA sequence analysis. This paper reports the identification of one of the few highly effective DAPG producing Pseudomonas isolates from southern India that can be used biological control in addition to the identification and characterization of several other fluorescent Pseudomonads with potential to serve as bio-control agents against a number of important pathogenic fungal species