Bio-suppression of Sclerotinia Stem Rot of Tomato and Biostimulation of Plant Growth Using Tomato-associated Rhizobacteria

Biocontrol of Rhizoctonia Root Rot in Tomato and Enhancement of Plant Growth using Rhizobacteria Naturally associated to Tomato

“…Three plates were used per each individual treatment. After the incubation period, the diameter of pathogen colony was measured and the percentage of growth inhibition was calculated as previously described [24].…”

“…One day post pathogen challenge, seedlings were transplanted into pots (16 cm in diameter) filled with peat previously infected with 40 ml of fungal inoculum. A reminder bacterial treatment was performed 24 h post-transplanting [24]. Overall, the bioassay included a positive control (pathogenfree and rhizobacteria-free seedlings), a negative control (R. solaniinoculated and untreated seedlings) and 25 treatments consisting of tomato seedlings pathogen-challenged and individually treated with the tested 25 rhizobacterial isolates.…”

“…Three growth parameters (plant height and aerial parts and roots fresh weights) were recorded. Disease severity on collars and roots was estimated based on a 0-5 scale depending on root browning extent on the whole root system where: 0 = no symptom, 1 = 0-25% of root browning, 2 = 26-50% of root browning, 3 = 51-75% of root browning, 4 = 76-100% of root browning, and 5= plant death [24]. Disease incidence was also calculated for each individual treatment by dividing the number of symptomatic plants over the total number of plants.…”

“…Effects of tomato-associated rhizobacteria on incidence and severity of Rhizoctonia Root Rot disease and growth of tomato plants noted 60 days post-planting. Rhizoctonia Root Rot severity was assessed using a 0-5 scale where: 0=no symptom; 1= 0-25% of root browning; 2= 26 % -50% of root browning; 3= 51% -75% of root browning; 4= 76% -100% of root browning and 5= 100% of root browning [24]. …”

“…Suspensions of bacterial cells used for plant challenge were prepared as previously described and adjusted to approximately 10 8 cells/mL using an haemocytometer [24].…”