Biological Control of Coniella granati Saccardo in Pomegranate

Abstract

Coniella granati Saccardo (Synonym Pilidiella granati) is a fungal pathogen that causes fruit brown rot, cankers on shoots and crown rot of pomegranate trees. Although cultural and chemical control is recommended against C. granati; cultural control is not enough and limited number of advisable fungicides used in chemical control against this pathogen. Therefore, alternative strategies are needed for this pathogen control. In this context, it was aimed to investigate the effect of some bacterial biocontrol agents against C. granati under in vitro conditions. Dual culture of eleven bacterial biocontrol agents [1 Bacillus megaterium (TV 3D), 3 Bacillus substilis (TV 6F, TV 17C, CP1), 1 Bacillus cereus (TV 85D), 1 Paenibacillus polymxa (TV 12E), 2 Pseudomonas fluorescens (MF 3, AR 9), 1 Burkholderia cepacia (BA 7) 1 Pantoea agglomerans (MF 1) and 1 Bacillus thuringiensis (BAB 420)] were tested for antagonistic properties against C. granati. Percent inhibition rate values changed from 11.90% to 66.67% in dual culture. B. cereus (TV 85D, 66.67%) was the most effective strains against C. granati respectively by B. substilis (TV 17C, 64.29%; TV 6F, 60.71%) in in vitro. As a result, promising results were obtained from these isolates in in vitro conditions. These isolates should be tested in vivo conditions for controlling the post-harvest decay of pomegranate fruits caused by C. granati.

Effectiveness of Olive Fruit Polyphenol Extract Combined with Aqueous Extracts of Solid Wastes of Pomegranate or/ and Orange Juice Against Important Plant Pathogens - Part 2 (in vivo studies)

“…Alternative crop protection methods are based on the use of beneficial microorganisms capable of producing inhibitory bioactive substances against important pests and plant pathogens [53][54][55][56][57]. Natural compounds can be extracted from tissues or from agro-industrial wastes of various plant species.…”

Pest categorisation of Coniella granati

“…(Thomidis and Filotheou, 2016;Munhuweyi et al, 2016bMunhuweyi et al, , 2017Brighenti et al, 2021) or biocontrol agents (e.g. Bacillus amyloliquefaciens, B. subtilis) (Ma et al, 2013(Ma et al, , 2015Tekiner et al, 2020) showed to be effective in the orchard controlling leaf spot and fruit rot on pomegranate (Mahla and Ashok, 1989;Gaikwad, 2000;Xavier et al, 2020;Yang et al, 2021), but some of them have been revoked in the EU.…”

“…hydrolysable tannins, essential oils, chitosan) (Thomidis and Filotheou, 2016; Munhuweyi et al, 2016b, 2017; Brighenti et al, 2021) or biocontrol agents (e.g. Bacillus amyloliquefaciens , B. subtilis ) (Ma et al, 2013, 2015; Tekiner et al, 2020) have shown in vitro promising results against C. granati , but none of them has been tested under field conditions.…”