Paddy straw compost (the composition is given as Supplement
Table 1) prepared as described by Gaind and Lata (2010) was used
for preparing the fortified biocontrol formulations. Based on previously
optimized inoculum rate (1% v/w), two types of compost
mixture (I and II) were prepared under stationary conditions in
plastic bags with foam stoppers (Dukare, 2010). Compost mixture I
was prepared by adding one cyanobacterial (C12) and one bacterial
strain (B5) to paddy straw compost, while compost mixture II was
prepared by amendment of paddy straw compost with the bacterial
strain alone. A compost mixture amended with cyanobacterial strain
alone was also prepared, but it did not exhibit significant fungicidal/
hydrolytic enzyme activity as compared to the other compost
mixtures and therefore was not used for testing with crop (Dukare,
2010). Both the amended compost mixtures were incubated for 10
days. Compost tea (5% w/v) was prepared from both the compost
mixtures (I and II) by vigorous stirring in stoppered flasks using
a shaker (250 rpm) followed by standing for 7e8 days and filtering
through 100 micron mesh sieve