1.In vitro study and identification of rhizobacteria
Certain beneficial plant growth promoting rhizobacteria are known to employ an array of mechanisms to inhibit the growth of pathogens. The antagonistic bacteria we selected and tested under in vitro conditions against R. solanacearum on KB-medium showed different levels of antagonism. Among the thirteen isolates, Bacillus spp. BC1AW, BC2BA, BC3AW, BC4SS and Pseudomonas spp. Results of the in vitro antibiosis test on KB medium suggest that,the inhibitory activity of all isolates except B. cereus BC1AW and BC4SS against R. solanacearum could be due to production of siderophores.