Stone fruits comprising peach, plum, almond, apricot, cherry and nectarines are attacked by various fungal and prokaryotic (i.e bacteria, fastidious vascular bacteria) pathogens. Amongst fungal diseases, the most important ones are peach leaf curl, brown rot, powdery mildew, rust, leaf spots, peach scab, canker and die-back, black knot, wilt and root rot. Amongst prokaryotic diseases, crown gall, bacterial spot, canker, phony peach, almond leaf scorch and plum leaf scald are important. Stone fruit diseases are successfully managed by the combined use of cultural, chemical and biological measures supplemented with the cultivation of resistant cultivars. Foliar diseases are effectively controlled by timely sprays of fungicides. Proper pruning, applying chemicals and antagonist effectively manage canker and die-back. Removal of severely infested plants and isolation of diseased patches controls wilt, crown and root rot. Crown gall, a very serious disease of stone fruits is being managed successfully by a non-pathogenic strain of the causal bacterium. Diseases caused by fastidious vascular bacteria are managed by applying antibiotics and rouging infested plants.

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Pomegranates are susceptible to leaf spot and dry fruit rot caused by Coniella granati (Sacc.) Petrak and Sydow and the disease is assuming importance in Himachal Pradesh due to its severity. This fungus requires a good rainfall, high humidity around 80 per cent and a temperature range of 22-32ÚC for its initial spread and development. Under optimum conditions, C. granati can cause complete rotting of the fruits.To study the role of epidemiological factors on the disease development of leaf spot and dry fruit rot of pomegranate, cultivar 'Kandhari Kabuli' was selected. The data on disease severity on leaves and fruits was recorded at weekly interval from June to August at the farm of Department of Fruit Science, Dr. Y. S. Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, Solan during 2012 and 2013 cropping season. The data on weather parameters (i.e. temperature, relative humidity and rainfall) was taken from

Background: Proteus mirabilis is one of the organisms which is often associated with urinary tract infections of humans as well as animals. As a member of Enterobacteriaceae family, the level of antimicrobial resistance tend to pose a significant public health risk. Hence, the present study was undertaken to study antibiogram profiles, multidrug resistance P. mirabilis isolates and detection of β-lactamase activity in them.Methods: A total of 175 P. mirabilis isolates from different sources were subjected to antibiotic sensitivity/ resistant test by Kirby Bauer disc diffusion method. Detection of ESBL production was done phenotypically by Phenotypic Screening Test and Phenotypic Confirmation Test as recommended by CLSI guidelines and genotypically using multiplex PCR assay to detect different classes of β-lactamase genes. This study was carried out from March 2017 to August 2018 in and around areas of Krishna District Andhra Pradesh.Result: Out of 175 P. mirabilis isolates screened, antibiogram revealed highest sensitivity towards gentamicin (76.57%), followed by ampicillin (64.57%), kanamycin (61.14%), amikacin (60.57%) and streptomycin (43.42%). Higher resistance was observed for erythromycin (71.42%), nalidixic acid (62.85%), ciprofloxacin (62.85%), tetracycline (60%), polymyxin-B (60%), cefoxitin (49.14%) and amikacin (36%). β-lactamase genes were detected in a total of 23 isolates (13.14%). Prevalence rates of β-lactamase genes among different samples was 23.6%, 11.1%, 10.8% and 42.8% from chicken, pork, poultry cloacal swabs and human urine samples, respectively with blaTEM being the predominant gene detected (69.56%) followed by blaOXA (26.08%), blaAmpC gene FOX (13.04%), blaCTX-M group I (4.34%), blaSHV (4.34%) and blaAmpC gene CIT (4.34%) among all the tested P. mirabilis isolates.

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Objective: The aim of this study was to isolate and screen for the antimicrobial properties of actinomycetes from marine soil sediments and sponges. Methods: The samples of sponges and sediments were collected from various locations from the coast of Andhra Pradesh. Isolation of actinomycetes was done by plating them on starch casein agar, kuster's agar, Actinomycete isolation agar and potassium tellurite agar medium using dilution technique. Various pathogenic bacterial strains, fungal strains and yeasts were obtained from Microbial Type Culture