SCREENING OF BACTERIAL ENDOPHYTES FROM RICE LEAF SHEATH AGAINST A VIRULENT ISOLATE OF Rhizoctonia solani

Abstract

The research was conducted to identify the bacterial endophytes from rice leaf sheath against Rhizoctonia solani that caused sheath blight disease of rice. This study was done in the Mycology and Advanced Nematology Laboratory of the Department of Plant Pathology, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University. Twelve R. solani isolates were collected from six upazilas of Bangladesh. Among twelve isolates, RSRPS11 showed the highest relative lesion height (30.66%) on BRRI Dhan 34 in pot. The highest disease severity (20.45%) was also recorded for isolate RSRPS11. Eight bacterial endophytes were isolated from healthy leaf sheaths of rice from these six areas. Endophytic bacteria showed creamy, milky white, creamy yellow, orange yellow, and pale white colonies in color. Colony size variation was also observed. At 7 days of dual culture with R. solani, five isolates showed no inhibition, and Iso-4 produced the highest (51.11 %) inhibition zone. These strains of R. solani and the potential bacterial endophyte could be used in future research of sheath blight disease management.