摘要 : Damping off is a very serious disease in many field crops including chilli and its biological control has gained significance in recent times due to ill effects of chemicals. The effect of thermophilic bacterium, <i>Bacillus liche... 展开 Damping off is a very serious disease in many field crops including chilli and its biological control has gained significance in recent times due to ill effects of chemicals. The effect of thermophilic bacterium, <i>Bacillus licheniformis</i> was evaluated to control <i>Pythium aphanidermatum</i> induced damping off in chilli (<i>Capsicum annuum</i> L.) under laboratory as well as pot culture conditions. <i>B. licheniformis</i> suppressed the growth of <i>P. aphanidermatum</i> equally as <i>Trichoderma harzianum</i> under laboratory conditions by dual culture technique. <i>B. licheniformis</i> treatment was at par with <i>T. harzianum</i> when studied in pot cultures. There was 81.18% and 83.16% inhibition of disease causing <i>P. aphanidermatum</i> with respect to infected control pots with <i>B. licheniformis</i> and <i>T. harzianum</i>, respectively. <i>B. licheniformis</i> used in present study is thermophilic in nature and hence the study has relevance in the context of failure of <i>T. harzianum</i> at higher temperature. 收起