In vitro Evaluation of Biocontrol Agents Against Damping Off Disease Caused by Pythium debaryanum on Tomato

Damping-off diseases incited by different species of Pythium are a persistent problem worldwide, often resulting in reduced yields and occasionally resulting in major crop damage. There have been increasing restrictions on the use of chemical fungicides, and the development of disease-suppressive biocontrol agents has become a major goal of horticulture crops. An experiment was conducted with twenty four fungal biocontrol agents and twelve bacterial biocontrol agents were screened for their efficacy against phytopathogenic fungi Pythium debaryanum through dual culture technique. The Trichoderma harzianum -7 and Pseudomonas fluorescence -3 were found effective in inhibition of mycelium (80.03, 58.50) against Pythium debaryanum under in vitro conditions.