Vegetos
(An International Journal of Plant Research & Biotechnology)
(eISSN: 2229-4473)
Cultural, morpho-molecular characterization of Aspergillus niger associated with collar rot of groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) and in-vitro evaluation of fungicides and bioagents
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Dani Padma Priya, Huded Sharanabasav, Kalappanavar Ishwar K, Kulkarni Shripad
Research Articles | Published: 30 March, 2026
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Keywords: n Aspergillus nigern , Collar rot, Fungicide efficacy, Biological control, n Trichoderma harzianumn
Abstract
Aspergillus niger, a predominant seed-borne pathogen, causes collar rot in groundnut resulting in reduced seed germination and seedling vigour. This study involved the cultural, morphological, and molecular characterization of A. niger, along with in vitro evaluation of fungicides, and bioagents for its effective management in two different methods. Among seven tested culture media, the highest radial growth of A. niger was recorded on Potato Dextrose Agar (90.33 mm), followed by V8 Juice Agar (88.33 mm). Microscopically, pathogen exhibit septate, hyaline hyphae with conidiophores terminating in globose black conidial heads. Molecular identification of present study isolate i.e. GN-ITS-UASD using multi-locus sequencing confirmed isolate as A. niger and obtained NCBI accession number’s PV865284 and PX149243 for ITS and RPB2 respectively. Multilocus concatenated (ITS + RPB2) phylogeny confirmed that isolate from groundnut seed origin i.e. GN-ITS-UASD is a true A. niger lineage, clustering strongly with global reference strains. Among systemic fungicides, tebuconazole found most effective (13.56% infection, 82.67% germination, with vigour index of 3058.91). Captan was the best-performing non-systemic fungicide, shown 11.11% infection and a vigour index of 3172.90. Carboxin + Thiram and Trifloxystrobin + Tebuconazole were the most effective combi fungicides. Among bioagents, Trichoderma harzianum showed the highest suppression (17.33% infection, 76.84% mycelial inhibition). Overall, the integration of effective fungicides particularly tebuconazole, captan, and carboxin + thiram along with T. harzianum offers a promising strategy for the management of collar rot disease and improvement of groundnut seedling health under in vitro conditions.
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Author Information
Plant Pathology Department, University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad, India