The Biological Control of Fusarium oxysporum, the Causal Agent of Potato Rot

This study was carried out in vivo and in vitro to search the biological control possibilities of soil borne dry rot causal agent Fusarium oxysporum causing yield losses in potato. In this study, 2 Pantoea agglomerans (BRTB and RK-92), 2 Bacillus pumilus (RK-103 and TV-67C), 7 Bacillus subtilis (BAB-140, TV-12H, TV-6F, EK-7, TV-17C, CP-1 and TV-125A), 3 Bacillus megaterium (TV-103B, TV-87A and TV-91C), 1 Ochrobactrum anthropi (A-16B), 1 Agrobacterium radiobacter (A-16) and 1 Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. kurstaki (BAB-410) bacterial and 2 Trichoderma harzianum (ET 4 and ET 14) fungal isolates tested efficacy in previous studies were used. In pot trial, the experiment was established with the most effective five bacterial strains (BRTB 66.22%; RK-103, 50.90%; BAB-140 50.00%; TV-103B 49.10%; TV-12H 48.65% and TV-6F 48.20%) and two fungal isolates (ET 4; 69.44%, ET 14; 66.66%). BRTB, the most effective bacterial strain, prevented completely the development of the pathogen. Based on the application time of BRTB, infection was not observed on seedlings on growing from tubers inoculated with pathogen 4 h after dipping into the bacterial solution. In storage treatments, BRTB was the most efficacy isolate when compared with others. As a result, BRTB strain of Pantoea agglomerans can be candidate in the biological control of F. oxysporum.