Abstract
Biopriming of leguminous and non-leguminous seeds was used as an alternative technique to fungicidal treatments for controlling root infecting fungi and increasing growth of leguminous and non-leguminous plants. To investigate the effect of bio-priming on okra (Abelmoschus esculentus L.), Sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.), Peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) and Chickpea (Cicer arietinumL.), seeds were treated with different microbial antagonists like Trichoderma harzianum, Rhizobium meliloti, Bacillus sp. and Paecilomyces variotii for different time periods (5, 10, 20 and 40 minutes) were sown in plastic pots under screen house conditions. Results showed that Macrophomina phaseolina (Tassi) Goid and Fusarium spp were significantly suppressed when seeds were bioprimed with R. meliloti, T. harzianum and Bacillus sp. conidial/cell suspensions at 5, 10 and 20 minutes. Growth parameters were maximum in magnitude when seeds were bio-primed with R. meliloti and T. harzianum for 10 minutes.
