Vol. 11, Issue 9 (2022)

Author(s):
Meghana SP, Gururaj Sunkad, Yenjerappa ST, Sunil A Kulkarni, Satyanarayan Rao and Nagaraj M Naik

Abstract:
Chickpea is third most important legume crop in India. It is one of the earliest cultivated annual legumes of the family Fabaceae. The boosting agricultural productivity relies heavily on the use of chemicals, which negative environmental impacts and also a major constraint to plant growth and yield. Therefore, to increase global agricultural production in a more economically and environmentally sustainable way, there is need to use plant growth-promoting microorganisms (PGPMs). PGPMs improve plant growth by enhancing the availability of nutrients, as phytostimulators, by regulation of phytohormones and by increasing plant tolerance against biotic stresses. The present investigation was focused on the compilation of endophytic fungal PGPMs from the chickpea plants. Forty fungal endophytic PGPMs were isolated from healthy chickpea plant samples collected from different districts of northern Karnataka and their cultural characters were observed. All the forty fungal endophytic PGPMs showed very distinct cultural characters among them.