<div><strong>Background: </strong>Cotton is one of the most important cash crops in India. It is also called as &ldquo;White gold&rdquo; because of its agricultural as well as industrial importance. Myrothecium leaf blight is an emerging disease in cotton which is growing consistently throughout the country and has been reported to cause significant losses in major cotton growing tracts of odisha. Considering the importance of the disease, the present investigation has been taken up to study the physiology of the fungus.&nbsp;<br />
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<strong>Methods: </strong>An experiment was conducted in-vitro during 2016-18 to investigate the effect of temperature and pH on the growth of M. roridum. Seven different nutrient media viz. Potato Dextrose Agar (PDA) medium, Potato Sucrose Agar (PSA) medium, Host Leaf Extract Agar (HEA) medium, Potato Carrot Agar (PCA) medium, Czapek&rsquo;sdox Agar (ZA) medium, Richard&rsquo;s Agar (RA) medium and Oat meal agar medium (OMA) were tested under in-vitro conditions to ascertain a suitable medium for the growth of M. roridum.<br />
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<strong>Result:</strong> The investigation in laboratory conditions has revealed that out of seven nutrient media tested, maximum radial growth was recorded in Potato Sucrose Agar (PSA) with an average radial growth of diameter 76.06 mm and the least growth was recorded on Richard&rsquo;s Agar with a diameter of 23.66 mm. The growth of the fungus was observed to be maximum at a temperature of 28&deg;C with a diameter of 61.09 mm and the minimum average growth of 17.36 mm was recorded at 36&deg;C. Studies on pH revealed that that the fungus grows well in neutral and slight alkaline medium (6.5 - 8.0).</div>


<div>Physiological Studies of <em>Myrothecium Roridum</em>: An Inciting Agent of Myrothecium Leaf Blight in Cotton</div>


<div><strong>Background:</strong> Vermicomposting is the agricultural technique of conversion of organic wastes to a fertile product, which can result in better crop growth and production. However, even though earthworms are the main organisms participating in the process, the microbes associated with it also have an important role to play. These microbes degrade the waste products biochemically and are responsible of the conversion processes. Few studies are carried out on microbial diversity and related enzymes activities in the vermicompost prepared from different organic waste materials. &nbsp;<br />
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<strong>Methods:</strong> In this paper, we isolated both bacteria and fungi from seven different types of vermicompost, using different selective media. We also studied the activity of hydrolytic enzymes that are associated with the isolated microbes.<br />
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<strong>Result: </strong>It was observed that bacteria like <em>Bacillus</em> sp., <em>Pseudomonas </em>sp., <em>Klebsiella </em>sp., <em>Staphylococcus aureus</em>, <em>Streptococcus</em>, <em>Micrococcus, Actinomycetes, Pigment producing Actinomycetes, Streptomyces, Azotobactor and fungi like Penicillium purpurogenum, Aspergillus sp., Alternaria alternata, Fusarium solani, Rhizopus sp., Mucor hiemalis, Myrothecium verrucaria etc</em>. were present in our vermicompost preparations. The presence of nitrogen fixing bacteria, phosphate solubilizing microorganisms and PGPR indicated the good fertilizer value of the vermicompost samples. It was also observed that the diversity of microbes present supported significant levels of CMCase Exoglucanase, Xylanase, &beta;-Glucosidase, Phosphatase and Urease activities.</div>


<div>Evaluation of Microbiological Quality of Vermicompost Prepared from Different Types of Organic Wastes using <em>Eisenia fetida</em></div>


<div style="text-align: justify;">Soybean crop is very sensitive to change in climate and suffers from vagaries of climate. The productivity thus gets affected in different years due to the influence of climatic condition, incidence of diseases and insects. Trichoderma sp. is considered as a potential biocontrol and growth promoting agents for many crop plants. &nbsp;Trichoderma spp. is generally being applied to the soil and seed as talcum powder form. Though powder formulations may be applied directly to seeds at the rate of 5g/kg seed, the effectiveness of Trichoderma seed treatment is lost due to poor adhesion on the smooth seed coat surface of soybean. Thus, it was targeted to achieve maximum benefit by Trichoderma seed treatment mediated through polymer coating. Two soybean cultivars were treated with Trichoderma viride with different formulation namely Trichoderma culture solution with polymer, Trichoderma culture talc with polymer, Trichoderma culture talc powder dry dressing. Endophytic growth of Trichoderma viride in root, stem and leaf was studied by agar plate method at 27&plusmn;10C for seven days. The percentage of plants with Trichoderma endophytic growth was 97-100 per cent in plants from seeds treated with Trichoderma with polymer as compared to 37-45 per cent in plants from seeds treated with Trichoderma talc powder dry dressing. Control plants did not show any endophytic growth of Trichoderma. Significant increase in plant height was observed due to endophytic growth of Trichoderma. &nbsp;24 per cent yield advantage was observed due to Trichoderma culture solution treatment with polymer. Seedling mortality due to collar rot (0.61%) and disease incidence of Myrothecium Leaf Spot, Anthracnose and Rhizoctonia Arial Blight (0.34%) was significantly lower than control (9.8% and 9.169%). Proper application of Trichoderma viride on soybean seed through polymer coating has significant potential to reduce diseases and to improve plant growth and seed yield.&nbsp;</div>

Physiological Studies of Myrothecium Roridum: An Inciting Agent of Myrothecium Leaf Blight in Cotton

Evaluation of Microbiological Quality of Vermicompost Prepared from Different Types of Organic Wastes using Eisenia fetida

Efficient application of Trichoderma viride on soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merrill] seed using thin layer polymer coating