Potential Role of Biocontrol Agents for Sustainable Management of Fungal Pathogens Causing Canker and Fruit Rot of Pistachio in Italy

Abstract

Pistachio (Pistacia vera) is an important Mediterranean crop. In Italy, pistachio is cultivated in the southern regions, of which Sicily is the main production area. Recently, the phytopathological situation of this crop has started to be updated, and new diseases have been discovered, studied, and reported. Botryosphaeriaceae spp. and Leptosillia pistaciae are major canker/rot pathogens, and Cytospora pistaciae and Eutypa lata have been reported as minor canker pathogens. In this paper, we evaluated different biological control agents, belonging to Trichoderma asperellum, T. atroviride and T. harzianum, as well as some Bacillus amyloliquefaciens strains, against above-mentioned pathogens. Results of dual culture assays showed that all the biological products, both fungi and bacteria, were able to inhibit the mycelial growth of the pathogens in vitro. Experiments using detached twigs showed no effect of biocontrol agents in reducing infections, except for Neofusicoccum hellenicum treated with T. harzianum T22 and Leptosillia pistaciae treated with B. amyloliquefaciens D747. Results of detached fruit experiments showed an efficacy ranging from 32.5 to 66.9% of all the biological products in reducing the lesions caused by N. mediterraneum. This study provides basic information for future research on biological control of pistachio diseases and future prospects for search of more effective biological control agents for canker diseases than those studied here.

History, Phylogeny, Biodiversity, and New Computer-Based Tools for Efficient Micropropagation and Conservation of Pistachio (Pistacia spp.) Germplasm

“…and Armillaria ( A. mellea ) and Fusarium ( Fusarium spp.) root rot [ 95 ] and pests (such as Megastigmus pistacia ) some fungal canker pathogens of pistachio ( Leptosillia pistacia and Cytospora pistacia ) [ 96 ], have been widely spread in the traditional orchards or natural plantings. All together pistachio monoculture has been boosted based on a few new cultivars and rootstocks which are tolerant to abiotic and biotic stress but provoking a continuous genetic erosion.…”

Harnessing fungal biocontrol agents for the management of plant diseases

“…Many bacteria, fungi and actinomycetes are playing a vital role in biological control of plant diseases. Various microbial antagonists including the some species of bacterial genera viz., Bacillus, Pseudomonas, Burkholderia, Agrobacterium and Enterobacter, Streptomyces and fungi, Trichoderma, Gliocladium and Coniothyrium have shown enormous biocontrol potential against various foliar and root diseases in several crop plants (Jayarajan and Nakkeran, 2000;Prabavathy, 2005;Mathivanan et al 2005;Prashanth et al 2006;Shanmugaiah et al 2006;Srinivasan et al 2006;Shanmugaiah et al 2010;Robati and Mathivanan, 2013;Krishnaraj et al 2014;Kong , 2017;Babb al et al 2017;Chenniappan et al 2019;Poveda et al 2021;Bonaterra et al 2022;Boro et al 2022;Gusella, et al 2022) and several commercial bioproducts have already been developed using bacterial and fungal biocontrol agents, evaluated against various plant diseases and currently available in the global market (Table 1) for farm use.…”