Suppression of southern corn leaf blight by a plant growth‐promoting rhizobacterium Bacillus cereus C1L

Abstract

Southern corn leaf blight (SCLB) is an important foliar disease of maize. In this study, an induced systemic resistance (ISR)‐eliciting rhizobacterium Bacillus cereus C1L was used to protect maize against SCLB. Application of B. cereus C1L in maize rhizosphere effectively protected maize from SCLB under greenhouse and field conditions. The protection effect of B. cereus C1L was similar to that of Maneb (2 kg active ingredient per hectare), a recommended fungicide. Furthermore, possible factors of B. cereus C1L to elicit ISR and to promote plant growth were investigated. The results indicate that secreted factors and rhizosphere colonisation ability of B. cereus C1L are involved in ISR elicitation. In addition to biocontrol activity, B. cereus C1L was able to promote growth of maize in field. Compared with a non‐treated control, leaf length, leaf width, plant height and fresh and dry weights of B. cereus C1L‐treated corn plants significantly increased. Therefore, B. cereus C1L acts as a plant growth‐promoting rhizobacterium of maize.

Southern leaf blight disease severity is correlated with decreased maize leaf epiphytic bacterial species richness and the phyllosphere bacterial diversity decline is enhanced by nitrogen fertilization

“…It is now mainly a problem in tropical and sub-tropical maize growing areas in the southeastern US and parts of Asia and Africa. Spores from this fungus land on the leaf surface, germinate, and penetrate either directly through the stomata or the leaf cuticle and epidermis (Jennings and Ullstrup, 1957). This pathogen spreads from leaf litter and can produce windborne spores within days (Horwitz et al, 2013).…”

Application of PVA-derived porous media to accelerate biodegradation (composting) of organic solid substrates

“…As Bacillus spp. are a major component of thermophilic microbial communities in solid-waste composting systems (Strom 1985) we used Bacillus cereus C1L (Huang et al 2010). It was cultured in 3 l Luria-Bertani (LB) broth (1% tryptone, 0.5% yeast extract, 0.5% NaCl) for 1 day, and a suspension of 10 8 cells ml -1 in 5 mM phosphate buffer (pH 7.2) was then prepared.…”

Formulation of a novel antagonistic bacterium based biopesticide using microencapsulated techniques in fungal disease control

“…This characteristic is unique among the known strains of B. cereus. In addition, the C1L strain promotes plant growth as shown by increases in the chlorophyll content, leaf width and length, and plant freshness and dry weight (Huang et al, 2010). Treatment with a bacterial suspension of B. cereus C1L reduces the level of hydrogen peroxide in corn leaves (Huang et al, 2005).…”

“…Thus, the purpose of this research was to further formulate this novel antagonistic bacterium by microencapsulation techniques. The results of our previous study indicated that higher C1L counts are necessary for better antagonistic activity (Huang et al, 2010). Therefore, the response surface methodology (RSM) and the sequential quadratic programming (SQP) methods were used to maximize C1L viabilities during the spray-drying process.…”