Contents: I. Invited lectures: 1. PGPRs in crop production systems/M. S. Reddy, et al. 2.  Isolation and characterization of PSIRB as biofertilizer and biopesticide in improving the plant health of tomato/S. R. Niranjana, et al. 3. Plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPRs) used as bioinoculants for increasing productivity and disease management of MAPs/Mansoor Alam et al. 4. Integrated disease management in jute and allied fiber crops with PGPR based bio-inoculants and bio-regulators consortium/Anuradha Bandopadhyay et al. 5. Phosphate solubilization mechanisms of Aspergillus tubingensis, a plant growth promoting fungus/M. Sudhakara Reddy, et al. 6. Use of bio-fertilizer: A key to sustainable agriculture in India/Kakali Majumdar. 7. Biocontrol potential of Siderophore producing PGPR/R. Z. Sayyed, et al. 8. Application of Bacillus-mediated induced systemic resistance against multiple plant pathogens and its mode of actions/ Kyungseok Park , et al. 9. Bio-active secondary metabolites from PGPR and botanicals/S. Gopalakrishnan, et al. 10. Mechanisms of plant growth promoting rhizobacteria against soil borne pathogens of Coleus and Ashwagandha/S. B. Mallesh and S. Lingaraju. 11. Cloning of genes involved in siderophore biosynthesis in Pseudomonas mediterranea G229-21T/Binghai Du, et al. 12. Plant growth promotional and biocontrol potential of Fluorescent Pseudomonads from western ghat regions of Karnataka/A. R.  Alagawadi, et al. 13. Evaluation of Bacillus spp. from rainfed agro-ecosystems for plant growth promotion of Sorghum and Pigeonpea/Mir Hasan Ahmed. 14. Diversity of PGPR associated with the saline coastal ecosystems and their beneficial roles in sustainable agriculture/V. R. Prabavathy and Sudha Nair. Section - II. PGPR Applications in Crops: 1. Evaluation of bacilli and Fluorescent Pseudomonads isolated from the rhizosphere and roots of Theobroma cacao L. for biological control of Phytophthora palmivora/Litty Thomas, et al.  2. Isolation and functional characterization of potential plant growth promoting Fluorescent Pseudomonads from the cocoa roots and rhizosphere/Litty Thomas, et al. 3. In vitro antagonism studies of rhizospheric Fluorescent Pseudomonads of coconut against Ganoderma sp. and Thielaviopsis paradoxa, fungal pathogens of coconut/Chandu Mohan, et al. 4. Screening of Fluorescent Pseudomonads from rhizosphere of coconut (Cocos nucifera L.)  for plant growth promoting traits/Priya George, et al. 5. Effect of bacterization of finger millet grains with the PGPRs isolated from the rhizoplane of Holostemma adakodien Schultes on its germination and 7 day linear growth/S. R.  Ambika  and Thanuja, L. 6. Actinomycetes diversity in Turmeric (Curcuma longa L.) soils/P. Ponmurugan, et al. 7. Response of aerobic rice (Oryza sativa L.) to different isolates of Bacillus megaterium/Shailia Hittilmani, et al. 8. Development of PGPR consortium for Catharanthus roseus (L.) G. Don. medicinal plant/B. Karthikeyan and M. Deiveekasundaram. 9. A novel strain of Bacillus circulans isolated from apple rhizosphere showing plant growth promoting potential/C. K. Shirkat, et al. 10. Effect of bioinoculants on seedling vigour in tobacco (Nicotiana tobaccum) nurseries/D. V. Subhashini, et al. 11. Plant growth promoting activity through foliar spray of endophytes on Maize/Gupta Dipmala G. and  H.N. Shelat. 12. Consortium of antagonistic bacteria improves growth in eggplant (Solanum melongena L.)/R. Ramesh and V.S. Korikanthimath. 13. Inhibition of Ralstonia by antagonistic bacteria : mechanisms of antagonism/R. Ramesh et al. 14. Growth promoting effect of  PGPR in Khejri (Prosopis cineraria)/P. Nallathambi, et al. 15. Selection of culturable PGPR from Maize based intercropping system//Anil Kumar, et al. 16. Effect of bioagent and fungicidal treatment for enhancement of seed quality parameter of Soybean (Glycine max. L. Merill)/O. D. Kohire,  et al. 17 Growth response of corn during growing season by plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria/Ahmad Gholami, et al . Section - III. Bio-fertilizers and PGPR in Integrated Nutrient Management: 1 Studies on nutrient use efficiency of bioinoculants and biocontrol agent interactions in Casuarina equisetifolia (forest seedlings under tropical nursery condition)/V.  Rajesh Kannan and T  Muthukumar. 2. Influence of bio-fertilizers and sources of nutrients on upland scented Rice/O. M. Yadav  et al. 3. Effect of integrated nutrient management on yield of Soybean/S. R. More, et al. 4. Association of diazotrophic, phosphate and potash solubilizing Roseateles terrai and Burkholderia gladioli with sugarcane and their short-term inoculation effect on wetland rice/R. Muthukumarasamy et al. 5. Screening of chickpea root nodule bacterial strains to promote nodulation in Chickpea/V. R. Hinge, et al. 6. Growth response and nutrient utilization of Casuarina equisetifolia seedlings inoculated with bioinoculants under tropical nursery conditions/T. Muthukumar and  K. Udaiyan. 7. Reduction in dose of chemical fertilizers and growth enhancement of sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) with application of rhizospheric competent Pseudomonas aeruginosa LES4/Sandeep Kumara, et al. 8. Metabolic diversity of root nodulating Soybean Rhizobia isolated from Malwa Region of Central India /Mahaveer P. Sharma, et al. 9. Effect of biofertilizer on yield and quality of  Sunflower (Helianthus annus L.)/J. D. Gaikwad, et al. 10. Isolation and assessment of zinc-solubilizing Bacillus isolates from Nimar Region of Central India /Sushil K. Sharma, et al. 11. Phytase, phosphatase activity and P-nutrition of Soybean as influenced by inoculation of Bacillus isolates/A. Ramesh, et al. 12. Optimization of phosphorus requirement in Soybean-Safflower cropping system on vertisols/C. B. Patil, et al. 13. Co-aggregation of microbes for efficient phosphorus solubilization/V. R. Gupta, et al. 14. Effect of inorganic fertilizers and PGPR on the growth of Rubber seedlings (Hevea brasiliensis) in nursery/V. K. Syamala, et al. 15. Nitrogenase activity and plant growth promoting properties of Asaia bogorensis; an endophyte isolated from mango/N. B. Patil, et al. 16. An efficient method for qualitative screening of phosphate-solubilizing bacteria/Apurva Srivastava, et al. Section - IV. Mechanisms, Signaling, Plant Responses, and Bioactive Metabolites: 1. Beneficial traits of microbial isolates of organic liquid manures/M. N. Sreenivasa, et al. 2. IAA production by the isolates of Psuedomonas spp. from the Eastern Ghats of Tamil Nadu/Nagaraja, Suryadevara, et al. 3. Quantitative assay for ACC deaminase producing isolates and their characterization for plant growth promoting potentials/Meenu Saraf, et al. 4. Molecular characterization of Bacillus megaterium isolated from different agroclimatic zones of Karnataka/Remya G Pillai, et al. 5. Mercuric reductase (merA) gene isolated from plasmid bearing strains of Escherichia coli/Tanveer A. Shah and Arif Ali. 6. Molecular markers for population dynamics of cellulose degrading bacteria in Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) soils/Machiavelli, et al. 7. Molecular characterization and screening of plant growth promoting rhizobacteria under drought stress/V. Sandhya, et al. 8. Isolation and molecular characterization of Antibiotic- DAPG (2, 4i acetylphloroglucinol) from Pseudomonas fluorescens/D. Dayal Doss. 9. Induction of systemic resistance in tomato (Lycopsersicon esculentum Mill.) by plant growth promoting rhizobacterial mixtures of Bacillus spp. for vascular wilt management/V. Shanmugam and Nandina Kanoujia. 10. In silico characterization of heavy metal stress specific phytochelatin synthase(pcs) gene from heterelogous systems/L. Sahoo, et al. 11. Biological hardening of micro propagated banana (Musa spp) plantlets with rhizosphere and endophytic bacteria to manage Banana bunchy top virus (BBTV)/M. Kavino, et al. 12. Effect of high temperature on Pseudomonas putida NBRI 0987 biofilm formation and expression of stress sigma factor RpoS/Vasvi, et al. 13. Evaluation of Fluorescent Pseudomonas spp. with single and multiple PGPR traits for plant growth promotion of Sorghum in combination with  fungi/G. Praveen Kumar, et al. 14 Proteome analysis of rice responses to beneficial microbe, Pseudomonas fluorescens strain KH-1/K. Saveetha, et al. Section - V.  Plant Pathogen - PGPR Interactions: 1. Eco-friendly approaches in the management of bacterial blight caused by Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae of rice in Karnataka/P. Nagaraju, et al. 2. Suppression of bacterial blight of Anthurium (Anthurium andreanum) by a Fluorescent Pseudomonad/S. Dhanya,  et al. 3. Biological suppression of charcoal stalk rot of maize by trichoderma and phosphate solubilizing Pseudomonads/S. I. Harlapur and M. C. Wali. 4. Psuedomonas fluorescens and Trichoderma  spp as biocontrol agents for the management of  soilborne fungal pathogens/Bharati N Bhat. 5. Role of endophytic bacteria in plant growth promotion and induction of systemic resistance/R. Rangeshwaran, et al. 6. Plant growth promoting rhizobacteria mediated resistance against Alternaria helianthi in sunflower/H. S. Prakash  and A. C. Udaya Shankar. 7. Evaluation of rhizosphere actinomycetes for Anti-Rhizoctonia activity/G.  Narchtnai, et al. 8. PGPR mediated systemic resistance against tobacco mosaic virus in Tomato/K. S. Jagadeesh, et al. 9. Antagonistic effect of Trichoderma spp. against Phytophthora - the foot rot pathogen of black pepper (Piper nigrum L.)/R. Athul Sandheep  and  M. S. Jisha.10. Biocontrol potential of salinity tolerant Pseudomonas aeruginosa against Macrophomina phaseolina under saline stress conditions/Naveen K. Arora, et al. 11 Investigations on antifungal metabolites of Pseudomonas fluorescens isolates and their antagonism against major fungal pathogens of rice/B. Prasanna Kumar Reddy, et al. 12. Biological control of Rice sheath blight disease by Pseudomonas fluorescens isolates/B.  Prasanna Kumar Reddy, et al. 13. In-vitro antagonistic effect of Pseudomonas fluorescens on mycelial growth of rice blast and sheath blight pathogens/B. Prasanna Kumar Reddy, et al. 14. Two species consortia, Sinorhizobium meliloti and Azotobacter chroococcum control Macrophomina phaseolina causing root rot and enhance growth and yield of Cajanus cajan L./D. K. Maheshwari et al. 15. Exploitation of PGPR and fungal strains for the management of leaf blight disease in Noni - Manjunath Hubballi, et al. 16. Inhibition of Ralstonia solanacearum by antagonistic bacteria: mechanisms of antagonism - R. Ramesh, et al. 17. Scope of PGPR in seed health management/P. Nallathambi, et al. 18. Plant growth promoting endophytic bacterium mediated resistance against brown spot disease of Paddy/Chandra Nayaka, et al. 19. Assessment of PGPR components in the management of Frog Eye leaf spot of bidi tobacco in India /Shamarao Jahagirdar, et al. 20. Antifungal activity of PGPR against soil borne pathogen in Cotton/V. V.  Deshmukh, et al . 21.  Integrated management of foot rot of black pepper/Hemant G. Hegde and Gurudatt M. Hegde. 22. Potencial of Trichoderma strains in alterning the pH environment of  substrate/R. G. Chaudhary  and Neetu shukla. 23. Plant growth promoting rhizobacteria for the management of root-knot/wilt complex of Coleus and Ashwagandha/S. B. Mallesh and S. Lingaraju. 24. Compatibility of antagonistic growth promoting rhizobacteria with agrochemicals used in Hevea brasiliensis cultivation/Kochuthresiamma Joseph, et al. 25. Antagonistic activity of endophytic bacteria against major leaf pathogens of Hevea brasiliensis/Shaji Philip, et al. 26. Biological control of Fusarium oxysporum sp. Vanillae, the casual agent of stem rot of Vanilla in vitro/Gangadhara Naik, et al. 27. Efficacy of different biological agents in the management of pigeonpea cyst nematode (Heterodera cajani)  in black gram/V.  Devappa,  et al. 28. Management of root-knot and wilt complex in Coleus forskohlii caused by Meloidogyne incognita  and Fusarium  chlamydosporum/Kumar, .B., et al. 29. Integrated management of root-knot nematode with organic amendments and bioagents in FCV tobacco/H. Ravindra. et al. 30. Screening of rhizobacteria for antagonism against Rhizoctonia solani and growth promotion activity/M. Solanki et al. 31. Biological control of charcoal rot of sorghum by using arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi/B. N. Reddy,  et al. 32. Bacillus subtilis RP24: A potent biocontrol agent for Fusarium udum causing Pigeonpea Wilt/Minakshi Grover, et al. 33. Study on the efficiency of PGPR on Zea mays L in promoting the plant growth and control on the seedling blight disease caused by Fusarium sp./K. Ejilane. et al. 34. Biological control of FCV tobacco damping-off using talc based formulations of antagonists/C. Karegowda,  et al. 35. Bio-management of root-knot nematode, Meloidogyne incognita in Jasmine (Jasminum sambac L.)/N. Seenivasan, et al. 36. Management of major diseases/pests of wheat through induced systemic resistance (ISR) using PGPR and like organisms/A. K. Sharma, et al. 37. Characterization of some plant growth promoting rhizobacteria in relation to biotic stress management with enhanced growth and production of jute and allied fibre crops/Anuradha Bandopadhyay, et al. 38. Beneficial traits of PGPR mediated disease management and growth promotion in jute and sunnhemp with bioformulation of activated and wild biocontrol agents/A. Bandopadhyay, et al. 39. Biological control and plant-growth promotion by Bacillus strains from milk - Noor Khan, et al. 40. Biological control of Pigeon pea wilt By Pseudomonas Fluorescens and Trichoderma viridae/S. Satyavani, et al. 41. Biological  control of crown rot and stem rot diseases of Groundnut by Pseudomonas aeruginosa/V. Udayini, et al . 42. Biocontrol potential of plant growth promoting rhizobacteria and fungi on sunflower collar rot (Sclerotium rolfsii) incidence/T. Navaneetha, et al. 43. Antagonistic potential and molecular characterization of Trichoderma harzianum isolates against Sclerotium rolfsii infecting tobacco/K. Siva Raju,  et al. 44. In-vitro efficacy of various rhizobacterial isolates against Rhizoctonia solani, the causal agent of rice sheath blight disease/K. Vijay Krishna Kumar, et al. 45. Cellulolytic bacteria perspective for using In protect of agricultural cultures from phytopathogenic fungi/ I. E. Smirnova and M. G. Saybenova . Section - VI. Biography, Genomics, Bioinformatics: 1. Isolation and characterization of plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria from Western Ghat forest soil, India /Ashok Pandey et al. 2. Characterization of indigenous PGPR strains isolated from the soils of Himachal Pradesh/S. S. Kanwar, et al. 3. Role of endophytes in inducing systemic resistance against leaf blight disease of amaranth/Sai Sree Uppala, et al. 4. Bioefficacy of endophytes in the management of leaf blight disease of amaranth/Sai Sree Uppala, et al. 5. Amaranth endophytes and their role in plant growth promotion/Sai Sree Uppala et al. 6. Bioinformatic studies on the diversity of Rhizobium, a growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR)/G. Ganeshkumar and R. Chandrasekaran. 7. Plant growth promotional activities of PCP degrading bacteria/K. S. Jagadeesh, et al. 8. Rhizobium undicola, a novel endophyte of rice cultivated in India and its role in plant growth promotion/R. K. Singh, et al. 9. Sensitivity of PGPR to agrochemcials/R. W. Ingle, et al. 10. Effect of agrochemicals on microflora in rhizosphere soil of soybean/M .G. Patil, et al . 11. Isolation & characterization of plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) from Groundnut and Cotton rhizospheres of Saurasharta region/R. J.  Raiyani  et al. 12. Isolation of chitinolytic bacteria from different agroclimatic regions of India and characterization of their PGPR activity, potential in antifungal Biocontrol/D. Praveen Kumar, et al. 13. Accessing actinomycetes from herbal vermicomposts and their evaluation for PGP traits/B. Keerthi Kiran. et al.14. Isolation and characterization of chitinolytic rhizobacteria for the management of Fusarium wilt in Tomato/P. Hariprasad  and Niranjana, S. R. Section – VII. Commercialization, Regulatory Issues, Trade Barriers in PGPR, Human Resource Development and Transfer of Technology: 1. Efficacy of talc based formulation of Pseudomonas fluorescens for the management of foliar blight of wheat and sheath blight of rice/Rama S. Singh , et al. 2. Understanding environment management practices/Upendra K. Jani. 3. Development of bacterial consortium to alleviate high temperature stress in sorghum seedlings/Sk. Z. Ali, et al. 4. Evaluation of vermicasts of Eudrilus eugeniae (Kinb.) as carrier material for biofertilizers/M. Jeyakumar et al. 5. Optimization of culture medium supplemented with vermicompost extract for mass multiplication of Azosprillum braziliense (MTCC 4036)/K. Raja Sekar and N. Karmegam. 6. Plant growth promoting microbial consortial formulations (talc/liquid) mediated biological control of sunflower necrosis virus disease under natural field conditions/K. Srinivasan and N. Mathivanan. 7. Growth, shelf life and bioefficacy of liquid inoculants (PSB, Azospirillum spp and Azobactar spp) formulated with polymeric additives/Leo Daniel Amalraj, E. et al. 8. Field efficacy of commercial formulations of Pseudomonas fluorescens and plant extracts against rice sheath blight disease/K. V. K Kumar et al. 9. Evaluation of Commercially Available PGPR for Control of Rice Sheath Blight Caused by Rhizoctonia solani/K. V. K Kumar et al.

"Today, many economically important agricultural, horticultural and ornamental crop plants are attacked by various soil borne and foliar diseases, resulting in billions of dollars in crop losses. Currently, the most widely used disease management strategy is the use of chemical fungicides. However, the use of these fungicides has encountered problems, such as development of resistance by pathogen to fungicides and rapid degradation of the chemicals. Other factors leading to increased interest in alternatives include the increasing cost of soil fumigation, lack of suitable replacements for methyl bromide and public concerns over exposure to fungicides. Both the agriculture and agri-food sector are now expected to move toward environmentally sustainable development, while maintaining productivity. These concerns and expectations have led to renewed interest on the use of “biologically based pest management strategies”.

The green revolution of agriculture brought an enormous increase in food production. It not only made the world self sufficient in food but also gave the world’s scientists and farmers an immense amount of self-respect. Though the green revolution did increase food production, the productivity levels have remained low and increase was achieved at a cost of intensive use of water, fertilizer and other inputs which have caused problems of soil salinity, ground water pollution, nutrient imbalances, emergence of new pest and diseases and environmental degradation." No. 71664