BIOCONTROL ABILITY OF BACILLUS HALOTOLERANS AGAINST STONE FRUIT PATHOGENS

Abstract

The biocontrol ability of Bacillus halotolerans strain B33 against the most significant stone fruit bacterial and fungal pathogens was investigated under in vitro conditions. The results indicate that the inhibition zone toward bacterial pathogen Xanthomonas arboricola pv. pruni originating from peach and apricot (strains Xp219 and Xp320, respectively) ranged from 20 to 45 mm in diameter, depending of the used B. halotolerans concentration. B. halotolerans B33 did not inhibit the growth of bacteria Pseudomonas syringae pv. syringae (strains RE05 and RE3 originating from sweet cherry), P. s. pv. morsprunorum race 1 (strain Pm5 originating from sweet cherry and Pm26 from plum) and P. cerasi (strain RE10 originating from wild cherry). In the case of fungal pathogen Monilinia fructicola strain 116, 41.66−61.00% growth inhibition was observed when pure culture of B. halotolerans was used. From the obtained results in this work, B. halotolerans strain B33 could be recommended to be potentially used as a suitable biocontrol agent for the control of Xanthomonads plant pathogenic bacteria and Monilinia spp. on stone fruit.