Bacterial identification causing soft rot and blackleg diseases of Tomato and Onion in district Mansehra, Pakistan

Abstract

Vegetables are essential for the growth of the human beings. It provides vitamins, antioxidant, fibers and other nutrients essential for the human health. Nearly 70% population of Pakistan depends directly or indirectly on agriculture. Due to the favorable climatic conditions, Mansehra district is included in the list of vegetable production areas. However, certain factors lower the quality and quantity of vegetables in which bacteria play a key role. We collect the samples from the farmer fields and then investigated the causal pathogens. Then further, pure colonies were obtained which were subjected to PCR and 16S RNA gene was sequenced. We found that causal agents were Pectobacterium sp., Erwinia sp. and Pseudomonas species. The sequences obtained from 16S RNA were submitted to NCBI Gene Bank having Accession numbers MH265998.1, MH251625.1 and MH263738.1.