Biological Control of Soil-Borne Diseases of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants: Present Statds

Abstract

<i>Tagetes minuta, Artimisia annua, Mentha </i>spp, <i>Matricaria chamomile, Geranium,</i>

<i>Rosemarinus officinalis</i>, <i>Cymbopogon maritinii, C.flexuosus, Centella asiatica, Catharanthus roseus, </i>etc. are some of the import ant medicinal and aromatic plants grown in India. These plants suffer from a number of soil -borne diseases, viz. collar rot of <i>Mentha </i>caused by &nbsp;S<i>clerotium rolfsii </i>and <i>Fusarium </i>sp ., <i>Scierotinia </i>rot of <i>Artimisia annua </i>caused by <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">S<span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic">clerotinia sclerotiorum , </span></i>stem rot of geranium caused by <i>Rhizoctonia solani, </i>collar rot of <i>Pogostemon cablin </i>and <i>Tagetes </i>sp. caused by <i>Sclerotium rolfsi, </i>etc. These diseases cause the rotting of stem and root system. Chemical management of these diseases is not only quite costly but also harmful. Therefore, attempts have been made to use the indigenous isolates of <i>Triclwderma </i>and <i>Gliocladium </i>spp for the management of these diseases. The nature and mechanism of these biocontrol agents are presented. The results arc quite encouraging and presented in this paper.