Assessment of the Role of Local Strawberry Rhizosphere—Associated Streptomycetes on the Bacterially—Induced Growth and Botrytis cinerea Infection Resistance of the Fruit

Abstract

Abstract:The future need for sustainable agriculture will be met in part by wider use of biological control of plant pathogens over conventional fungicides hazardous to the environment and to public health. Control strategies involving both (i) direct use of microorganisms antagonistic to the phytopathogen, and (ii) use of bioactive compounds (secondary metabolites/antibiotic compounds) from microorganisms on the phytopathogen were both adapted in order to investigate the ability of streptomycetes isolated from the rhizosphere of strawberry plants to promote the growth of the fruit and suppress Botrytis cinerea causing strawberry rot on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia. In vitro studies showed that 25/39 streptomycetes isolated from strawberry field soils inhibited B. cinerea growth by antifungal activity, ranging from antibiosis to volatile compound production. However, when non-volatile antifungal compounds were extracted and applied aerially to the actively growing strawberry fruits infected with B. cinerea, a significant disease reduction was not recorded. On the other hand, plant and fruit growth was promoted by the presence of actively growing streptomycetes in container media. Findings might indicate that live streptomycete inoculum can be used as growth promoting agent in container media for this economically important crop.

Growth Promotion and Disease Suppression Ability of a Streptomyces sp. CB-75 from Banana Rhizosphere Soil

“…Streptomycetes sp. K2 was isolated from strawberry field soils, and promoted the growth of strawberry plants and fruits (Eccleston et al, 2010 ).…”

“…Actinomycetes are one of the most efficient groups of natural bioactive metabolites, and they have been used as antibiotics, antitumor agents, antioxidants, anti-inflammatory agents, anti-infection agents, enzyme inhibitors, pesticides, plant-growth-promoting substances, and so on (Qin et al, 2011 ; Wang X. J. et al, 2013 ; Ashokvardhan et al, 2014 ; Kumar V. et al, 2014 ; Shivlata and Satyanarayana, 2015 ; Tan et al, 2016 ). It has been reported that actinomycetes have been used to protect plants against a wide range of phytopathogenic fungi, and produce cell-wall degrading enzymes, antifungal antibiotics, and plant growth promoters (Yuan and Crawford, 1995 ; El-Tarabily et al, 2000 ; Doumbou et al, 2002 ; Bressan, 2003 ; Cao et al, 2005 ; El-Tarabily and Sivasithamparam, 2006 ; Prapagdee et al, 2008 ; Jorjandi et al, 2009 ; Eccleston et al, 2010 ; Mingma et al, 2014 ).…”

Exploring the Potentiality of Native Actinobacteria to Combat the Chilli Fruit Rot Pathogens under Post-Harvest Pathosystem

“…Although different groups of microorganisms have been employed for disease management, several research findings over the past few decades have highlighted the biocontrol potential of actinobacteria against a wide range of plant pathogens [ 19 , 20 , 21 ] through various mechanisms, including fungal cell-wall lysis, antibiosis, competition for nutrients, induction of host systemic resistance, phytotoxin degradation, plant growth stimulation, nutrient assimilation, rhizosphere competence and mineral availability [ 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 ].…”