ISSN: 0973-7510

E-ISSN: 2581-690X

Research Article | Open Access
A.B. Anju1, Chitra Natarajan1, R. Preetha2, S. Anu Rajan1, V.I. Soumya1 and K.N. Anith1
1Department of Agricultural Microbiology, College of Agriculture, Kerala Agricultural University, Vellayani, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India.
2Centre for Plant Biotechnology and Molecular Biology, College of Agriculture, Kerala Agricultural University, Vellanikkara, Thrissur, Kerala, India.
Article Number: 8181 | © The Author(s). 2023
J Pure Appl Microbiol. 2023;17(2):768-779. https://doi.org/10.22207/JPAM.17.2.02
Received: 19 October 2022 | Accepted: 09 March 2023 | Published online: 23 March 2023
Issue online: June 2023
Abstract

Foot rot disease (Phytophthora capsici) causes severe economic losses to cultivators of black pepper. Fungicides used for managing the disease adversely affect the export potential of the product due to their residual toxicity. Endospore-forming bacterial strains, Bacillus amyloliquefaciens VLY24, Bacillus pumilus VLY17, and Bacillus velezensis PCSE10 were evaluated for growth promotion and disease suppression in black pepper nursery at two locations in Kerala, India. All the isolates could suppress Phytophthora capsici under in vitro conditions. Spraying detached leaves with a cell suspension of the bacterial isolates could delay the development and progression of lesion. In the in vivo trials, bacterized cuttings had a better establishment in the nursery when compared to uninoculated control. Plant growth parameters like the number of leaves, roots, and shoots were more in bacterized cuttings. Cuttings treated with Bacillus pumilus VLY17 when challenge inoculated with the pathogen, showed 84.74 percent reduction in the size of lesions on the leaves, and showed the least disease index (0.27) compared to pathogen inoculated control. It is proposed that endospore forming Bacillus spp. with anti-oomycetic activity could be potential biocontrol agents against foot rot disease of black pepper.

Keywords

Black Pepper, Endospore-forming Bacteria, Phytophthora capsici, Biocontrol, Plant Growth Promotion

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© The Author(s) 2023. Open Access. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License which permits unrestricted use, sharing, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.