Bacillus subtilis ALBA01 can mitigate onion pink root symptoms caused by Setophoma terrestris

Abstract

21Soil-borne pathogen Setophoma terrestris is the causal agent of pink root of onion, one 22 of the most challenging diseases in onion production. Conventional approaches for 23 managing the disease like solarization, soil fumigation and crop rotation have not been 24 proven effective enough. In this work, we evaluated the biocontrol capacity of Bacillus 25 subtilis ALBA01 (BsA01) against S. terrestris, in a highly susceptible onion cultivar, both 26 under greenhouse and field conditions. Disease incidence and severity were evaluated 27 together with growth, photosynthesis among other physiological variables and yield 28 parameters. When compared with plants infected with the pathogen, those plants co-29 inoculated with BsA01 showed significantly less damage and levels of biocontrol above 30 50%. With regard to physiological parameters, plants challenged with S terrestris and 31 inoculated with BsA01 performed as well as the control non-infected plants revealing a 32 growth promotion effect of BsA01 on onion plants.33

Phoma Diseases: Identification, Epidemiology, and Strategies for Management

“…Bacillus as a biocontrol agent can produce antimicrobial compounds. Recently, the bacterium Bacillus subtilis (strain ALBA01) acted as a biocontrol agent against the fungus P. terrestris under both greenhouse and field conditions (Sayago et al 2019), where the findings of this study noticeably indicated important biological protection expressed by B. subtilis against the soil-borne P. terrestris fungus. P. terrestris diseased plants inoculated with the bacterium showed usual development, particularly the photosynthetic activity; thus the strain ALBA01 of the B. subtilis bacteria may be employed to decrease the damage on the pink root (Sayago et al 2019).…”