Abstract

Agriculture has experienced tremendous pressure owing to ever increasing demand for food and feed on one side and ever shrinking resources on the other side. It is at this moment the sector has to contribute more with fewer resources. There has been humpty number of approaches being put forth across the globe to achieve this arduous task. The efficient approach is protection of plant from pests and this an important in realising the actual potential of each crop in a given area. Under the umbrella of crop protection, in the recent times, miracle bacteria named PGPRs are gaining importance owing to their multiple roles in crop production as well as protection. The most widely exploited PGPRs belong to either Bacillus or Pseudomonas. The PGPRS have role in both growth promotion as well as suppression of pathogens through various mechanisms such as antagonism, competition, production of siderophore, and induction of systemic resistance etc. Though there has been no dearth of literature stating the efficacy of PGRRs against range of pathogens encompassing the fungi, bacteria, viruses and nematodes; only finger countable strains of PGPRs have been commercialised. This might be due to inherent problems with policies governing PGPRs or inconsistent performance of PGPRs or both. Thus this chapter focuses on commercialization of PGPRs and their usage in plant disease management in many crops.