Biocontrol of Foot and Root Rot Disease of Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea) by Dual Inoculation with Rhizobium and Arbuscular Mycorrhiza

The present study was carried out to investigate the potential of AM (Arbuscular mycorrhiza) fungi alone and in combination with bioinoculants i.e., Rhizobium to find out the best combination on dry biomass, nodulation, colonization, and yield, along with their biocontrol against groundnut foot and root rot caused by Sclerotium rolfsii. The study was carried out under pot culture conditions in the net house of the Soil Science Division, Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute, Joydebpur, Gazipur in 2020 and 2021. The experiment was designed in RCBD with eight treatments and four replications. Peat-based rhizobial inoculum (BARI RAh-801) was used @ 1.5 kg ha-1 in this experiment. Soil-based AM inoculum containing approximately 252 spores and infected root pieces of the host plant was used in pot-1. The treatments were Arbuscular mycorrhiza (AM), Rhizobium, AM+Rhizobium, Sclerotium rolfsii, Sclerotium rolfsii+AM, Sclerotium rolfsii+Rhizobium, Sclerotium rolfsii+AM+Rhizobium and Control. Dual inoculation (AM+Rhizobium) significantly increased dry biomass, nodulation, colonization, yield, and yield attributes of groundnut compared to single inoculation or other treatments. The result showed that dual inoculation (AMF+Rhizobium) increased nut yield (59.61% in 2020 and 26.32% in 2021) and stover yield (23.21% in 2020 and 33.74% in 2021) compared to control. On the contrary, Sclerotium rolfsii+AMF+Rhizobium increased nut yield (65.50% in 2020 and 52.94% in 2021) and stover yield (36.45% in 2020 and 99.35% in 2021) compared to only Sclerotium rolfsii treatment. The plant dry biomass, nodulation, colonization, nutrient concentration and uptake were increased by dual inoculation under pathogenic and non-pathogenic conditions leading to an improved yield of groundnut. Therefore, AMF species and its combination with rhizobial inoculum were significant in the formation and effectiveness of AM fungi symbiosis. They also increased yield and reduced the incidence of foot and root rot disease in groundnut plants