FORMULATION OF Bacillus cereus HSTUB 17 FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF FUSARIUM WILT OF CHILLI

Abstract

Fusarium wilt of chilli caused by Fusarium oxysporum is a devastating disease responsible for huge yield loss in Bangladesh. The present study was aim to formulate a bio-fungicide composed with Bacillus cereus HSTUB 17 for the management of Fusarium wilt of chilli in field conditions as an alternative means of chemical control. Several substrate viz. charcoal, maize bran, wood dust, soybean bran, and pea bran were employed for the formulation. The prepared bio-fungicides were packaged and kept in two distinct storage environments: (A) a refrigerator (40C); (B) a wooden shelve (at room temperature). The initial populations of B. cereus HSTUB 17 with formulated bio-fungicides were counted up to 240 days after incubation at 30-day intervals. The greatest density of spores was reported even 90 days after storage in wood dust-based bio-fungicide. Among all the formulated bio fungicides, wood dust-based bio-fungicide resulted higher reduction of Fusarium wilt incidence (%) and severity (%) (61.36% and 69.01%) (52.01% and 75.21%) in both Roshni and Bijlee plus, respectively. The same bio-fungicide also demonstrated maximum plant height (103.5 and 101.86 cm), highest shoot weight (420 g and 224 g), highest root length (29 and 28 cm), highest root weight (42.82 and 33 g), maximum number of branches/plant (180.90 and 229.29), highest number of fruit per plant (115.90 and 115.13), highest yield per plot ( 2.67 and 2.69 kg/plot), higher accumulation of phenol content (4.56 and 4.81 mg/100g), higher content of total soluble solids (13.77 and 13.23 °Brix), higher amount of antioxidant (9.15 and 8.13 mg/g), and higher amount of chlorophyll content (0.15 and 0.14 mg/mL) both Roshni and Bijlee plus, respectively. The findings of the study revealed the potentiality of the formulated wood dust-based bio-fungicide for the possible to management of Fusarium wilt of chili effectively.