Potential of yeasts as biocontrol agents of soil-borne fungal plant pathogens and as plant growth promoters

Abstract

Among soil microorganisms, yeasts have received little attention as biocontrol agents of soil-borne fungal plant pathogens in comparison to bacterial, actinomycetes, and filamentous fungal antagonists. The mechanisms of action of potential antagonism by yeasts in relation to soilborne fungal plant pathogens are expected to be similar to those involved with pathogens of aerial parts of the plant, including leaves and fruits. Several taxa of yeasts have been recorded as endophytes in plants, with a small proportion recorded to promote plant growth. The ability of certain taxa of yeasts to multiply rapidly, to produce antibiotics and cell wall-degrading enzymes, to induce resistance of host tissues, and to produce plant growth regulators indicates the potential to exploit them as biocontrol agents and plant growth promoters. More than ten genera of yeasts have been used to control postharvest diseases, especially of fruits. Suppression of classes of fungal pathogens of fruits and foliage that are similar to those associated with soilborne fungal root pathogens, strongly suggests that yeasts also have potential for the biological control of diseases caused by soil-borne fungal plant pathogens, as is evident in reports of certain yeasts in suppressing some soil-borne fungal plant pathogens. This review explores the potential of soil yeasts to suppress a wider range of soil-borne fungal plant pathogens and to promote plant growth.

Study of antagonistic yeasts isolated from some natural sources of West Bengal

“…5),Debaryomyces hansensii (55.40 PIRG ), Saccharomyces cerevisiae ( 45.23PIRG) C. spherical (42.22PIRG ). (Table 3).Kluveromyces lactis and Zygosaccharomyces lentus gave minimum inhibition (5.45 and 7.00 PIRG respectively) .Potential use of yeasts as biocontrol agents of soil born fungal plant pathogens and as plant growth promoters were recent investigated by EL-Tarabily and Sivasiyhamparam ( 2006) .Wide variety of yeasts have been used extensively for biological control of post harvest diseases of fruits & vegetables (Punja,1997).The yeast Torulapsis candida (Candida famata) effectively controls Penicillium digitatum infection on Citrus fruits . Candida saitoana &C. oleophila control post harvest diseases of apple &Citrus fruits (ElGhaouth et al 2000).…”

Temperature, pH and carbon source affect drastically indole acetic acid production of plant growth promoting yeasts

“…Yeasts are unicellular fungi that can also be found in the rhizosphere of plants, but in smaller numbers compared to bacteria and filamentous fungi; however, little information is known about their function in this ecosystem. A wide variety of yeasts present characteristics that promote plant growth (Cloete et al, 2009;Limtong et al, 2014;Nutaratat et al, 2014) via the control of plant pathogens (El-Tarabily, 2004;El-Tarabily and Sivasithamparam, 2006;Korres et al, 2011;Rosa et al, 2010), the production of phytohormones (Nassar et al, 2005), the solubilization of phosphate (Hesham and Mohamed, 2011;Falih and Wainwright, 1995;Mirabal Alonso et al, 2008;Mundra et al, 2011), the oxidation and mineralization of nitrogen and sulfur compounds (Falih and Wainwright, 1995), the production of siderophores (Sansone et al, 2005) and the stimulation of root colonization by mycorrhizal fungi (Mirabal Alonso et al, 2008;Vassileva et al, 2000).…”

Biological control of crown rot of bananas with Pichia anomala strain K and Candida oleophila strain O

“…The mechanisms of action of yeasts used as biocontrol agent have been recently reviewed by El-Tarabily and Sivasithamparam (2006). They include competition for space and nutrients, antibiosis, mycoparasitism (including the action of cell wall degrading enzymes), and finally induction of host resistance.…”