In-vitro Evaluation of Actinobacteria for its Potential in Bio-control of Fungal Plant Pathogens

Infections caused by fungal plant pathogens are recently recognized as a threat to food security worldwide and its control strategies need to be taken care where naturally synthesized fungicides such as those obtained from actinobacteria are becoming an area of great interest. A total of 68 isolates of actinobacteria were evaluated for their antagonistic potential against four fungal plant pathogens viz., Fusarium oxysporum CABI-293942, Fusarium udum MTCC-2755, Fusarium proliferatum MTCC-286 and Fusarium graminearum MTCC-1893 by dual culture assay. It was found that 83.8% of the isolates showed inhibitory activity against at least one of the tested plant pathogens with the percentage of inhibition ranging from 20–87.2. Thirteen Streptomyces isolates and one Nocardiposis isolate exhibited inhibition activity against all the tested pathogens. Overall, this study gives a basic understanding of the potential aspect of freshwater sediments derived actinobacteria against fungal phytopathogens.