In vitro screening of antagonistic activity of microorganisms against anthracnose disease

Abstract

Anthracnose disease can be successfully controlled by chemical pesticides in conventional fruit growing. However, in organic farming, in order to maintain environmental safety and fulfill consumer demand for pesticide-free food, the control of this disease is a major problem. The use of biocontrol agents with the antagonistic mechanism of control of many phytopathogens is an innovative alternative for cost-effective and eco-friendly production. The antagonistic activities of Trichoderma viride and Bacillus subtilis were tested in vitro against Colletotrichum acutatum, one of major plant pathogens responsible for anthracnose. The microbial antagonists inhibited mycelial growth in the dual culture. T. viride exhibited strong antagonism against C. acutatum isolates (80%). The B. subtilis isolate also had a strong effect on inhibiting the development of C. acutatum (37.5%). The results of this study identified T. viride and B. subtilis as promising biological control agents for further testing against anthracnose disease in fruits.

Isolation and antagonistic test of fungi associated with pummelo citrus against Botryodiplodia theobromae in vitro

“…Observation of antagonistic mechanisms was performed macroscopically through direct observation in dual cultures. The interaction mechanism that occurs between pathogen and antagonistic fungi is based on the criteria by [9,15,16]: a. Competition; the antagonistic fungus colonies cover the pathogen colonies and the growth of the antagonistic fungi is faster to fill a 9 cm diameter petri dish, at the contact area, hyphae of pathogen lysis.…”

“…Treatment of Aspergillus sp. has growth that spreads and faster, so it is known that the mechanism that occurs is competition [9,15,16]. Another isolate that also exhibits a competition mechanism for nutrients and space are the isolate Trichoderma sp.…”