Isolation of antagonistic bacteria from chickpea rhizosphere (Cicer arietinum L.)

India is the world's leading chickpea producer. It covers roughly 38% of the entire pulse crop area in India and accounts for about 50% of overall pulse production. By reducing the activity of plant diseases, biological control provides a low-cost, environmentally acceptable alternative to the use of expensive and harmful pesticides. Rhizobacteria is among the plant growth promoter and antagonistic organism against soil-borne pathogens. Many different places at random were chosen and soil samples and root samplings of chickpea rhizospheric soil were collected at Agriculture Research Station, Ummedganj-Kota and College of Agriculture, Kota. Total 10 isolates were obtained from different soil samples before and after flowering from different investigation areas. Isolation of rhizobacteria was done on nutrient agar. Rhizobacterial isolates were designated as PR 1 to PR 10 on the basis of biochemical characterization. The results of biochemical tests performed for the identification of effective rhizobacterial isolates showed that all isolates showed similar results with regard to gram staining (negative), catalase test (positive), H2S test (positive) and KOH test (positive). PR 1, PR 2, PR 5, PR 7, PR 8, PR 9 and PR 10 showed positive results in starch hydrolysis test. Out of 10 isolates, 7 isolates showed positive results for casein hydrolysis, 6 isolates showed positive results for indole production and only 2 isolates PR 6 and PR 7 showed positive results for urease test.