Two strains of Pseudomonas (P. fluorescens and P. aeruginosa) were used as only seed treatment or seed treatment followed by soil drench to study their effect against chickpea stem rot disease caused by Sclerotinia sclerotiorum (Lib) under greenhouse conditions. Application of P. aeruginosa and P. fluorescens significantly reduced disease incidence compared with untreated-infected control. However, seed treatment followed by soil drench was more effective and recorded the maximum reduction in disease incidence (85.72 and 71.42% reduction respectively). Also, P. aeruginosa was superior compared with fungicide treatment (Rhizolex-T). Both P. fluorescens and P. aeruginosa induced the synthesis of salicylic acid (SA), total phenols and chitinase in treated-infected plants with varied amounts at different growth stages of chickpea plants. These increases were much higher and reached to several-fold increase, especially when P. fluorescens and P. aeruginosa were applied as seed treatment followed by soil drench. Besides the systemic resistance effect, the two strains also increased fresh and dry weight and nodulation in treated-infected chickpea plants compared with untreated-infected control.