Microbial plant growth stimulation and control of plant fungal diseases for sustainable production of healthy food, focused on Uzbekistan

In many developing countries and also in Uzbekistan lack of food, deficiencies in micronutrients are wide spread. Desertification, salinisation problems in use of land will exacerbate the problems of vegetable production in semi arid soils. Gratuitous use of fungicides creates a real world concern regarding environmental pollution and presented a number of problems. One approach to address this challenge is the use of naturally occurring and environmentally safe biologicals such as plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR), which can be used alone or in conjunction with integrated pest management strategies. The rationale for this study is to screen salt tolerant PGPR strains from Uzbekistan and to determine if there is a effect on seedling vigour, stand establishment, and damping off disease control under salinated soils with hot temperature conditions of tomato. The overall goal of this project is to develop an integrated system for applying PGPR in salinated ecologically disturbed soils. Specific objectives for this 3 year project include: to test and demonstrate the efficacy of various PGPR strains for a) enhanced seedling germination, growth, and b) biocontrol of Rhizoctonia, and Fusarium under controlled environmental conditions. To find possible substrate for combination of bacterial strains, which is available in country of origin, to test efficacy of top PGPR strains for emergence promotion, vigor, and growth enhancement, disease control and yield enhancement under field conditions. Development of biologically based pest management system remains as international interest, especially when population is growing and food demand is increasing, and very important point is coming the ecologically disaster such soil salinisation, land desertifications and etc. Our strategy is to protect against multiple foliar bacterial and fungal diseases by combined mechanisms.