• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.203-206
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• 2017

The soil organisms that develop beneficial Symbiotic relationships with plants roots and contribute to plant growth are mycorrhizal (AM) fungi. Arbuscular mycorrhizal inoculations change the growth and biochemical composition of the host plant and soil. Mycorrhizal root systems do augment the absorbing area of roots from 10 to 100 times thereby greatly improving the ability of the plants to utilize the soil resources. A pot experiment was conducted during the kharif seasons at Jaipur, Rajasthan, to find out the effects of three different indigenous AM fungi i.e. Glomus mosseae, Glomus fasciculatum and Gigaspora decipiens either single and in combination inoculation on biochemical and histochemical changes of Pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum L.) grown under barren soil conditions. The AM fungus has shown to improve the tolerance of plant to drought stress. Experimental results showed that AM fungi treated plants improved their plants growths, biochemical and histochemical changes as compared to non-mycorrhizal treatments. The AM fungi inoculated plant was found to be attaining maximum plant biochemical and histochemical substances in Glomus mosseae (alone) and also Glomus mosseae + Glomus fasciculatum treatments.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.556-566
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• 2011

A total of 31 Acinetobacter isolates were obtained from the rhizosphere of Pennisetum glaucum and evaluated for their plant-growth-promoting traits. Two isolates, namely Acinetobacter sp. PUCM1007 and A. baumannii PUCM1029, produced indole acetic acid (10-13 ${\mu}g$/ml). A total of 26 and 27 isolates solubilized phosphates and zinc oxide, respectively. Among the mineral-solubilizing strains, A. calcoaceticus PUCM1006 solubilized phosphate most efficiently (84 mg/ml), whereas zinc oxide was solubilized by A. calcoaceticus PUCM1025 at the highest solubilization efficiency of 918%. All the Acinetobacter isolates, except PUCM1010, produced siderophores. The highest siderophore production (85.0 siderophore units) was exhibited by A. calcoaceticus PUCM1016. Strains PUCM1001 and PUCM1019 (both A. calcoaceticus) and PUCM1022 (Acinetobacter sp.) produced both hydroxamate-and catechol-type siderophores, whereas all the other strains only produced catechol-type siderophores. In vitro inhibition of Fusarium oxysporum under iron-limited conditions was demonstrated by the siderophore-producing Acinetobacter strains, where PUCM1018 was the most potent inhibitor of the fungal phytopathogen. Acinetobacter sp. PUCM1022 significantly enhanced the shoot height, root length, and root dry weights of pearl millet seedlings in pot experiments when compared with controls, underscoring the plant-growth-promoting potential of these isolates.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.28-35
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• 2006

Virulence and genetic diversity were studied using 21 isolates of Sclerospora graminicola, the pearl millet downy mildew pathogen collected from major pearl millet growing areas of India. Variability for virulence was determined by inoculating a set of 10 differential hosts with the S. graminicola isolates in a greenhouse. The isolates varied for latent period (6.4 to 11 days), disease incidence (0 to $98\%$), virulence index (0 to 18.7) and oospore-production potential (1 to 4). Among the 21 isolates, Sg 139 (Rajasthan) was the most virulent and Sg 110 (Tamil Nadu) the least virulent. Based on virulence index (disease incidence$\time$slatent $period^{-1}$), the 21 isolates were classified into eight virulence groups. Genetic diversity among isolates was studied using AFLP markers. Based on similarity index of banding pattern, the 21 isolates were clustered into eight genotypic groups. The AFLP groupings, however, did not match with that of the virulence groupings, and these two were found independent. The isolate Sg 139 that remained distinct in both pathogenic and genetic groupings indicated its highly virulent nature. Implications of these results in downy mildew resistance breeding are discussed.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.903-908
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• 2005

Inoculation of the carrier-based mixed bioinoculants af N-fixer (Azospirillum lipoferum strain Az204/Rhizobium strain BMBS P47) and phosphate-solubilizing bacterium (Bacillus megaterium var phosphaticum strain Pb 1) promoted growth and yield of pearl millet and blackgram under pot-culture conditions. The mixed inoculant of Az204 and Pb 1 enhanced germination, seedling vigor, plant height, and seed weight, and resulted in $6\%$ increase in grain yield of pearl millet. Likewise, the mixed inoculant of BMBS P47 and Pb1 increased growth, nodulation, and yield in blackgram. The rhizosphere soil enzyme activities, including nitrogenase, urease, and phosphatase, in both pearl millet and blackgram were significantly increased by the inoculation of the mixed inoculant, compared to that of the individual inoculants. The results clearly indicate the beneficial effect of co-culturing the N-fixer and P-solubilizer in inoculants production.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.48-58
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• 2024

The oldest and most extensively cultivated form of millet, known as pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br. Syn. Pennisetum americanum (L.) Leeke), is raised over 312.00 lakh hectares in Asian and African countries. India is regarded as the significant hotspot for pearl millet diversity. In the Indian state of Haryana, where pearl millet is grown, a new and catastrophic bacterial disease known as stem rot of pearl millet spurred by the bacterium Klebsiella aerogenes (formerly Enterobacter) was first observed during fall 2018. The disease appears in form of small to long streaks on leaves, lesions on stem, and slimy rot appearance of stem. The associated bacterium showed close resemblance to Klebsiella aerogenes that was confirmed by a molecular evaluation based on 16S rDNA and gyrA gene nucleotide sequences. The isolates were also identified to be Klebsiella aerogenes based on biochemical assays, where Klebsiella isolates differed in D-trehalose and succinate alkalisation tests. During fall 2021-2023, the disease has spread all the pearl millet-growing districts of the state, extending up to 70% disease incidence in the affected fields. The disease is causing considering grain as well as fodder losses. The proposed scale, consisting of six levels (0-5), is developed where scores 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 have been categorized as highly resistant, resistant, moderately resistant, moderately susceptible, susceptible, and highly susceptible disease reaction, respectively. The disease cycle, survival of pathogen, and possible losses have also been studied to understand other features of the disease.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Grassland and Forage Science
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.26-31
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• 2022

This study was carried out to evaluate the growth characteristics and forage yield potential for warm season grass as emergency forages. The experimental design was a randomized block design (RBD) with three replications. Two barnyard millet (Echinochloa species cv. Shirohie and Jeju native), a pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum cv Feed milk 2) a proso millet (Panicum miliaceum cv Native), a teffgrass (Eragrostis tef cv. Tiffany) and a kleingrass (Panicum coloratum cv. Selection 75) were compared for forage production and quality at the Mid regions of Korea. Warm season forage crops were sown on May 21 and June 23 respectively, and in 2021, it was sown twice on May 21 and June 21 The number of days to seedling emergence for barnyard millet and teffgrass was observed approximately 10 and 3 days after seeding, respectively. The cultivation period from seeding to harvest was within 60 days for all entry spices except for the late-heading type barnyard millet (within 84 days). As for the dry matter yield by seeding date, the dry matter yield of the late-heading type barnyard millet in May seeding was the highest at 23,872 kg/ha, and the kleingrass was the lowest at 3,888 kg/ha. For the June seeding, the dry matter yield of the late-heading type barnyard millet was 17,032 kg/ha, the highest, and the proso millet, teffgrass and kleingrass showed the lowest at 5,468, 5,442, and 5,197 kg/ha, respectively. The crude protein (CP) content was varied by warm season grass species, but the early-heading type barnyard millet, teffgrass, and kleingrass showed the highest tendency, and the late-heading type barnyard millet showed the lowest at 5.7~5.9%. Neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and acid detergent fiber (ADF) content did not show a significant difference between the seeding in May, but kleingrass in June sowed lower than the others.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Crop Science Conference
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• 2017.06a
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• pp.44-44
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• 2017

Recently, the occurrences of extreme flooding and drought, often in the same areas, have increased due to climate change. We tested the hypothesis that wetland species could help upland species under flood conditions; that is, the roots of wetland crops may supply $O_2$ to the roots of upland crops by a series of experiments conducted in both humid Japan and semi-arid Namibia (See Iijima et al, 2016 and Awala et al, 2016). Firstly, flooding tolerance of upland-adapted staple crops-pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum) and sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) mix-cropped with rice (Oryza spp.) was investigated in glasshouse and laboratory experiments in Japan. We found a phenomenon that strengthens the flood tolerance of upland crops when two species-one wetland and one drought tolerant-were grown using the mixed cropping technique that results in close tangling of their root systems, hereinafter referred to "close mixed-planting". This technique improved the photosynthetic and transpiration rates of the upland crops subjected to flood stress ($O_2$-deficient nutrient culture). Oxygen transfer was suggested between the two plants mix-cultured in water, implying its contribution to the phenomenon that improved the physiological status of upland crops under the simulated flood stress. Secondly, we further tested whether this phenomenon would be expressed under field flood conditions. The effects of close mixed-planting of pearl millet and sorghum with rice on their survival, growth and grain yields were evaluated under controlled field flooding in semi-arid Namibia during 2014/2015-2015/2016. Single-stand and mixed plant treatments were subjected to 11-22 day flood stress at the vegetative growth stage. Close Mixed-planting increased seedling survival rates in both pearl millet and sorghum. Grain yields of pearl millet and sorghum were reduced by flooding, in both the single-stand and mixed plant treatments, relative to the non-flooded upland yields, but the reduction was lower in the mixed plant treatments. In contrast, flooding increased rice yields. Both pearl millet-rice and sorghum-rice mixtures demonstrated higher land equivalent ratios, indicating a mixed planting advantage under flood conditions. These results indicate that mix-planting pearl millet or sorghum with rice could alleviate flood stress on dryland cereals. The results also suggest that with this cropping technique, rice could compensate for the dryland cereal yield losses due to field flooding. Mixed cropping of wet and dryland crops is a new concept to overcome flood stress under variable environmental conditions.