Antifungal activity of ethanol-water extracts of four medicinal plants, cinnamon (Cinnamomum verum Presl.), anise (Pimpinella anisum L.), black seed (Nigella sativa L.) and clove (Syzygium aromaticum L. Merr. & Perry.) was investigated against pea (Pisum sativum L.) root-rot fungus Rhizoctonia solani. In vitro antifungal activity test shown a high growth inhibition at concentration (4%) of each...

Effectiveness of castor (Ricinus communis) and velvetbean (Mucuna deeringiana) amendments was tested for suppression of the root-knot nematode (Meloidogyne arenaria) and growth of okra (Hibiscus esculentus) in three greenhouse experiments. Regression analysis was used to relate nematode population data or plant growth responses to various rates (0, 1, 2, 4, or 8 g/560 cm(3) soil pot) of each am...

A pot culture experiment was conducted to study the effect of soil amendment with different forms groundnut waste on spore population and root infection indigenous Arbuscular Mycorrhizal fungal species i.e. Glomus mosseae under polyhouse conditions. Two angiospermic plant viz. sorghum sesame were also examined for mycorrhization potential in study. Observations made percent colonization, densit...

The present study was undertaken to explore the possibility of using an indigenous strain of Pseudomonas fluorescens to manage one of the most devastating disease of the economically important brinjal crop, the bacterial wilt. The bacterial wilt caused by Ralstonia solanacearum has severly limited brinjal production in all parts of the world. In an attempt to evolve a biological management of t...

The ability of nematode-trapping fungi to colonize the rhizosphere of crop plants has been suggested to be an important factor in biological control of root-infecting nematodes. In this study, rhizosphere colonization was evaluated for 38 isolates of nematode-trapping fungi representing 11 species. In an initial screen, Arthrobotrys dactyloides, A. superba, and Monacrosporium ellipsosporum were...

Kin recognition is important in animal social systems. However, though plants often compete with kin, there has been as yet no direct evidence that plants recognize kin in competitive interactions. Here we show in the annual plant Cakile edentula, allocation to roots increased when groups of strangers shared a common pot, but not when groups of siblings shared a pot. Our results demonstrate tha...

Introduction and exploitation of plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) in agro-ecosystems enhance plant-microbes interactions that may affect ecosystems sustainability, agricultural productivity, and environmental quality. The present study was conducted to isolate and identify PGPRs associated with maize (Zea mays L.) from twenty sites of Himalayan region of Hajira-Rawalakot, Azad Jammu ...

The effects of a superphosphate (SP) and a rock phosphate (RP), with equal total P contents, on the growth and mineral nutrition responses of mycorrhizal and nonmycorrhizal cowpea, pigeon pea and groundnut were investigated in a pot experiment using an air-dry gamma ray-sterilized (1.5Mrad) Andisol subsoil. Adequate amounts of micronutrients were added to the pot soils as supplements. The plant...

Understanding the factors that alter competitive interactions and coexistence between plants is a key issue in ecological research. A pot experiment was conducted to test the effects of root interaction and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) inoculation on the interspecies competition between Trifolium repens and Lolium perenne under different proportions of mixed sowing by the combination trea...