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Abstract
Background: Plant growth-promoting bacteria (PGPR), while generally considered to aid plant growth with the provision of nutrients, can also be used as biocontrol agents for plant pathogens.
Aim: The study assessed the protective potential of inoculums and metabolites of plant growthpromoting rhizobacterial strains against bacterial and fungal pathogens on soybean seedlings.
Materials and Methods: Inoculums and metabolites of 15 rhizobacterial strains were used for the study. Five pathogens (Alternaria sp., Aspergillus niger, Corynespora sp., Fusarium oxysporum and Xanthomonas campestris) were employed for the study. Four experimental setups: treated-only seeds, infected-only seeds, infected then inoculum or metabolite treated seeds, and infected then distilled water treated seeds.
Results: In the setup infected with Alternaria sp., final germination values of seeds in the presence of the respective inoculums showed no significant variation between the treated only and the infected then treated setup. In the case of seeds infected with Aspergillus niger, higher germination and vigor index values were observed in the treated-only seeds when compared with the infected then-treated seeds. For seeds infected with Corynespora sp., significantly lower germination and vigor index values were observed in the infected then-treated seeds than the treated-only seeds in the presence of the respective inoculums. With regards to setup infected with Fusarium oxysporum, significantly higher final germination and vigor index values were recorded for the treated only seeds when compared with the infected then treated setups. For the Xanthomonas campestris infected seeds, the majority of the infected then metabolite-treated seeds showed significantly lower final germination values when compared with the treated-only seeds.
Conclusion: The study findings were able to establish the efficacy of some bacteria agents against economically important species of plant pathogens.
