A synopsis of research proposal

Title in English: Plant growth promotion and suppression of damping off and foot rot
disease of selected vegetables by beneficial bacteria

Introduction
Vegetables are one of the most important constituents in human diet. Bangladesh is an
agro- economy-based developing country where the agricultural production is 6010MT in an
area of 1125acres in 2021-2022 (BBS, 2022). Now Bangladesh is considered as one of the
fastest-growing vegetable producers in the world and the country is capable to manage the
total production almost doubled in the last decade (Rahman et al., 2020). Vegetables are
important sources of vitamins such as vitamin A, Vitamin B, Vitamin C, riboflavin, thiamine,
niacin, and minerals such as calcium and iron which are essential for human health. Different
dietary fibers that are essential for digestion, curing nutritional disorder and maintaining good
health are also supplied by them (Terry, 2011). In Bangladesh the annual demand for
vegetables is about 13.25 million tons but the production is only
3.73 million tons (Rahman et al., 2020), which means a huge shortage of its production to
supply the required demand of vegetables.
A large amount of seedlings are damaged due to attack of various soil borne pathogens
like Fusarium oxysporum which causes damping- off and foot rot diseases of vegetables in
seedling stages that ultimately reduces yield. Astudy was found that damping-off can affect
from 5 to 80% of the seedlings which increases huge economic losses for farmers
(Lamichhane et al., 2017). The reality, however, is not as expected. Pests and diseases have
become more common as a result of intensive agriculture, encouraging the usage of pesticides.
Furthermore, intensive agriculture is predicated on the use of higher doses of chemical
fertilizers. When applied indiscriminately, pesticides and chemical fertilizers can harm human
and cattle health and accumulate in soils and water, degrading ecosystems. On the other hand,
demand for high-quality food is increasing in both developed and developing countries. In this
sense, the application of microorganisms, especially bacteria, with plant growth promoting
features, the so-called plant probiotics, may be apossible solution to increase crop production
while avoiding the above mentioned problems. Several bacteria like Pseudomonas,
Enterobacter, Bacillus, Serratia etc. were reported to suppress plant diseases and enhance
plantgrowth (Labuschagne et al., 2010; El-Sayed et al., 2014, Vessey, 2003). Therefore, we
aimed to study the efficacy of several beneficial bacteria in order to control diseases and
enhance plant growth as wellin several popular vegetables.
Objectives
1. Toobserve the efficacy of selected beneficial bacteria on seed health of selected vegetables.
2. To study the efficacy of selected beneficial bacteria against damping off, foot rot
disease and agronomic traits of the selected vegetables.
Material and methods
Experimental site: The experiment will be conducted in the laboratory and net house in the
Department of plant Pathology, HSTU, Dinajpur.
Isolation and identification of pathogen: Fusarium oxysporum and Sclerotium etc. will be isolated
and identified on the basis of molecular characterization. The isolated pathogen willthen inoculate
(mycelial block) the pot soil prior to the sowing of vegetable seeds.
 Selection of vegetables: The most popular vegetables in Bangladesh viz. tomato, brinjal,
countrybean, radish, kholrabi, bottlegourd, mustard, spinach, batishak (pakchoi), and red amaranth
will be collected from Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI), Joydebpur, Gazipur,
Bangladesh. Fifty (50) seeds of each vegetable will be sown in apot containing sterilized soil.
Collection and application of beneficial bacteria: Five beneficial bacteria viz. Bacillus cereus,
Serratiamarcescens, Enterobacter ludwigi., Enterobacter tabaci and, Enterobacter cloacae have
already been isolated and identified on the basis of molecular characterization in our lab,which will
be used in this study. Overnight cultured each of selected bacteria will be adjusted to 10° CFU/mL
and mixed to the pot soil (@5 mLpot) before sowing of vegetable seeds.
Blotter test: The seeds of each vegetable will be soaked for 2 h in each bacterial suspension (10°
cfu/mL)and placed in Petri dishes containing three layers of moistened paper and incubated for 7
14days. The pathogen associated in the seeds will be observed using a sterio microscope or making
slide for the observation under a compound microscope. The germination (%) of seeds, seedling
vigor etc. willalso be collected.
Design of experiment for net house study: A total of 10 sets of experiment (ten vegetable and 6
treatments) will be conducted with the following treatment combinations:
TO: Control (without pathogen and beneficial bacteria); T1: Enterobacter ludwigii; T2:
Enterobacter tabaci; T3: Bacillus cereus; T4: Enterobacter cloacae; T5: Serratia marcescens, and
T6: seed treatments with Metalaxyl-M 75%. All the experiment will be conducted following
Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with three replications.
Collection of data: Disease incidence (%) and severity (%) will be collected following the formula:
Number of infected plants
Disease incidence (%) = X100
Total number of plants
Sum of total ratings
Disease severity (%)
Total observations XMaximum grade -X100

Data will also be collected on the basis of agronomic parameter including germination (%), shoot
length (cm), root length (cm), shoot weight (g), root weight (g) and vigor index etc.
Analysis of Data: The data willbe analyzed with the help of Statistix 10.
Experimental Output: After successful completion of the experiment, we will be able to identify a
potent beneficial bacterium for controlling seedling diseases which can further be used for the
development of bio- fungicide.
Socio Economic Importance: As the globe strives towards
sustainable disease control practices,
the usage of bio-agents may be one of the viable solutions. Farmers will be able to reduce money
waste, and women will be able to participate in the preparation of bio-fertilizers in their
areas, which will increase their livelihood. homestead
 Tentative
Schedule
01797743996
Mobile: Danesh Galiba
Mirza Vessey EI-Sayed Labuschagne
Lamichhane Terry, Rahman,References Thesis
BBS. writing
Statistical Blotter
study
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NetCollection of
testbeneficial
bacteria molecular
Maintain
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al7@gmail.com
Dinajpur-5200
Email:
University, ID:1701232 )
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