In vitro biocontrol activity of halotolerant Streptomyces aureofaciens K20: A potent antagonist against Macrophomina phaseolina (Tassi) Goid

A halotolerant actinobacterial strain isolated from salinity affected soil of Eastern Indo-Gangetic plains (IGP), Uttar Pradesh, India, was characterised for its antagonistic potential against <i>Macrophomina phaseolina</i> by dual-culture assay. It was shown to effectively inhibit the growth of <i>M. phaseolina</i> with an inhibition zone of 27 ± 1.33 mm. Further the actinobacterial strain was evaluated for its plant growth promoting (PGP) properties and its ability to produce biocontrol related extracellular enzymes <i>viz.</i> amylase, protease, cellulase, chitinase, gelatinase and urease. The results revealed that the actinobacterial strain had PGP potential along with positive assay for amylase, chitinase and urease. The interaction study between antagonist strain and fungal pathogen, performed by scanning electron microscopy technique revealed that the actinobacterium was able to damage fungal mycelia may be due to chitinase, establishing its role as a potential antagonist against <i>M. phaseolina</i>. The actinobacterial isolate was characterised by 16S rDNA gene sequencing, and was identified as <i>Streptomyces</i> genera. The identified gene sequence was deposited to NCBI GenBank with an accession number KP331758.