Isolation and Evaluation of Endophytic Bacteria Against Plant Parasitic Nematodes Infesting Black Pepper (Piper nigrum L.) Aravind R., Antony Dinu, Eapen Santosh J., Kumar A., Ramana K.V. Division of Crop Protection, Indian Institute of Spices Research (IISR), Calicut-673 012, Kerala, India, E-mail: sjeapen@spices.res.in. Abstract Abundant and diverse populations of bacterial endophytes have been identified in many plants. In the present study, 80 isolates of endophytic bacteria were isolated from different varieties of black pepper (Piper nigrum L.) grown at different locations in India. Another 30, isolates were obtained from tissue cultured black pepper plants. These isolates were tentatively grouped into Bacillus spp. (32 strains), pseudomonads (26 strains), Arthrobacter spp. (20 strains), Micrococcus spp. (10 strains), Curtobacterium sp. (one strain), Serratia (one strain) and twenty unidentified strains based on morphology and biochemical tests. Their nematicidal properties, when tested in an in vitro bioassay using Meloidogyne incognita juveniles, varied from 0 -31.03%. Consortia of these endophytic bacteria were made and evaluated in nurseries for their nematode suppression and growth promotion in black pepper rooted cuttings. All the bacterial consortia were able to suppress nematodes, M. incognita and Radopholus sintilis, significantly. The maximum number of cuttings (243 cuttings/plant) was obtained with phorate treatment followed by treatment with consortia 1 and 4 indicating the potential of these bacteria to be used as nematode biological control agents. Top Keywords Biological control, black pepper, endophytic bacteria, Meloidogyne incognita, Piper nigrum, Radopholus similis. Top |