• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.97-101
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• 2003

This study was conducted to determine the efficacy of Epicoccosorus nematosporus for the control of Eleocharis kuroguwai and to evaluate the meteorological factors which affect weeding efficacy in field conditions for three years (1996-1998). The best time to control E. kuroguwai with E. nematosporus as a biological control agent in the field was in July, when temperature ranged from 20.4 to $23.4^{\circ}C$; the surface wetness duration was 12.6-16.1 hours, and application time of 6:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m.; and weeding efficacy was 81-90%. On 10 June 1996 in Milyang area, where the field experiments were performed, mean temperature was $16.5^{\circ}C$ with 11.3 hours of dew duration. Meanwhile, on 20 Aug. 1996 the temperature was $21.3^{\circ}C$ with 15.4 hours of dew duration. During these periods, the weeding efficacy was recorded at 61.8 and 60.8%, respectively. Time required for complete plant death was 25.8 and 25.6 days at application times 10 June and 20 Aug., respectively. At the time of application on 7,18, and 27 July 1996, mean temperature was 20.4-$23.4^{\circ}C$ with 12.6-16.5 hours of dew duration. The weeding efficacies of these periods were very hi일 with 81.4-90.8%. Three years of field observations from 1996 to 1998 showed that infection in the field can occur at any time through the summer season, although total infection rates vary between months and between years. In 1996, plant infection rapidly increased from 56% on 30 June, 82.4% on 15 July, 94.6% on 15 August, and 92.8% on 15 September under favorable meteorological conditions such as minimum temperature of $17.6^{\circ}C$ and maximum temperature of $27.1^{\circ}C$, with 86% relative humidity and 977.5 mm of rainfall during E. kuroguwai growing season. However, in 1997, the disease incidence was very low because of unfavorable weather conditions brought about by the hot temperature and the low amount of rainfall at 321.5 mm. Disease progress was slow from 24.4% on 30 June to 49.2% at the end of the growing season.

• The Korean Journal of Mycology
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.44-49
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• 2003

Several microbial biocontrol products (Greenbiotech Co., Paju, Korea), Green-all T (Trichoderma harzianum), Green-all S(Bacillus sp.) and Green-all G (Streptomyces sp.) were supplemented with organic amendments such as sawdusts and rice hulls to study on efficacy of biological control of seeding damping-off of cucumber caused by Pythium ultimum. Sawdusts amended into potato dextrose agar alone could inhibit in vitro mycelial growth of P. ultimum. All there microbial products of Green-all T, Green-all G and Green-all S significantly reduced seeding damping-off (LSD, P=0.05). However, several amendments such as sawdusts and rice hulls into Green-all T and Green-all S products did not increase efficacy of biological control compared to non-amended treatment. In contrast, supplements of aminodoctor containing several amino acids (Greenbiotech Co., Korea) into Green-all G product significantly increased efficacy of biological control of seeding damping-off, resulting in from 42% to 2% disease incidence in relation to seedling emergence (LSD, P=0.05). Also, amendment of sawdusts into Tricoderma product significantly increased efficacy of biological control as disease index of 5.0 compared to non-amended control of 56.0 in Green-all T product alone. This indicates that organic amendments could increase efficacy of biological control of cucumber seedling damping-off.

• Mycobiology
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.44-47
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• 2017

Ginseng damping-off, caused by the fungal pathogens Rhizoctonia solani and Pythium sp., is a critical disease in ginseng seedling. In a continuing effort to find microorganisms with the potential of acting as a biocontrol agent against Rhizoctonia damping-off, we found that a Streptomyces sp. A501 showed significant antifungal activity against Rhizoctonia solani. In field experiment to test the efficacy of Streptomyces sp. A501 in controlling ginseng damping-off, the incidence of damping-off disease was meaningfully reduced when ginseng seeds were soaked in the culture broth of Streptomyces sp. A501 before sowing. To perform characterization of the antifungal compound, we isolated it from the culture broth of strain A501 through Diaion HP-20 and silica gel column chromatographies and preparative high-performance liquid chromatography. The structure of the antifungal compound was assigned as fungichromin by spectroscopic methods, mainly nuclear magnetic resonance and electrospray ionization-mass analysis.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.249-257
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• 2002

Pseudomonas fluorescens GL20 is a plant growth-promoting rhizobacterium that produces a large amount of hydroxamate siderophore under iron-limited conditions. The strain GL20 considerably inhibited the spore germination and hyphal growth of a plant pathogenic fungus, Fusarium solani, when iron was limited, significantly suppressed the root-rot disease on beans caused by F. solani, and enhanced the plant growth. The mechanism for the beneficial effect of strain GL20 on the disease suppression was due to the siderophore production, evidenced by mutant strains derived from the strain. Analysis of the outer membrane protein profile revealed that the growth of strain GL20 induced the synthesis of specific iron-regulated outer membrane proteins with molecular masses of 85- and 90 kDa as the high-affinity receptors for the ferric siderophore. In addition, a cross-feeding assay revealed the presence of multiple inducible receptors for heterologous siderophores in the strain. In order to induce increased efficacy and potential in biological control of plant disease, a siderophore-overproducing mutant, GL20-S207, was prepared by NTG mutagenesis. The mutant GL20-S207 produced nearly 2.3 times more siderophore than the parent strain. In pot trials of beans with F. solani, the mutant increased plant growth up to 1.5 times compared with that of the parent strain. These results suggest that the plant growth-promoting P. fluorescens GL20 and the genetically bred P. fluorescens GL20-S207 can play an important role in the biological control of soil-borne plant diseases in the rhizosphere.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.52-58
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• 2013

Fusarium head blight (FHB) caused by the filamentous fungus Fusarium graminearum is one of the most severe diseases threatening the production of small grains. Infected grains are often contaminated with mycotoxins such as zearalenone and trichothecences. During survey of contamination by FHB in rice grains, we found a bacterial isolate, designated as BN1, antagonistic to F. graminearum. The strain BN1 had branching vegetative hyphae and spores, and its aerial hyphae often had long, straight filaments bearing spores. The 16S rRNA gene of BN1 had 100% sequence identity with those found in several Streptomyces species. Phylogenetic analysis of ITS regions showed that BN1 grouped with S. sampsonii with 77% bootstrap value, suggesting that BN1 was not a known Streptomyces species. In addition, the efficacy of the BN1 strain against F. graminearum strains was tested both in vitro and in vivo. Wheat seedling length was significantly decreased by F. graminearum infection. However, this effect was mitigated when wheat seeds were treated with BN1 spore suspension prior to F. graminearum infection. BN1 also significantly decreased FHB severity when it was sprayed onto wheat heads, whereas BN1 was not effective when wheat heads were point inoculated. These results suggest that spraying of BN1 spores onto wheat heads during the wheat flowering season can be efficient for plant protection. Mechanistic studies on the antagonistic effect of BN1 against F. graminearum remain to be analyzed.

• The Korean Journal of Mycology
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.171-175
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• 2016

A gram-negative bacterium was isolated from spent substrates of Agaricus bisporus and showed significant antagonistic activity against Pseudomonas agarici. The bacterium was identified as Alcaligenes sp. based on cultural, biochemical, physiological characteristics and a 16S rRNA sequence analysis. The isolate is saprophytic, but not parasitic or pathogenic on cultivated mushroom, whereas it showed strong inhibitory effects against P. agarici cells in vitro. The control efficacy of Alcaligenes sp. HC12 against brown blotch of P. agarici was up to 63% on Agaricus bisporus. The suppressive bacterium may be useful for the development of biocontrol systems.

• Journal of Mushroom
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.19-23
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• 2019

A gram-positive bacterium was isolated from the spent substrate of Agaricus bisporus that showed a marked antagonistic activity against Pseudomonas agarici. It was identified as Bacillus safensis HC42 based on its cultural, biochemical, and physiological characteristics, and 16S rRNA sequence. B. safensis HC42 was saprophytic, but not parasitic or pathogenic, in cultivated mushrooms and showed strong inhibition of P. agarici in vitro. Moreover, it showed a control efficacy of 66 % against browning disease caused by P. agarici in Agaricus bisporus. Therefore, B. safensis HC42 may be useful in the future for the development of a biocontrol system.

• Research in Plant Disease
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.234-238
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• 2002

In vitro and in vivo activities of a biocontrol agent, Bacillus stearothermophilus strain YC4194 was evaluated for the control of Pythium damping-off of cucumber. B. stearothermophilus YC4194 inhibited germination of cystospores and formation of zoosporangia of Pythium aphanidermatum in vitro. Incorporation of a bentonite and talc based formulation(10$^{9}$ cfu/g) of B. stearothermophilus YC4194 to the nursery soils (10 g/ι soil) resulted In a significant (p=0.01) reduction in the disease severity of cucumber damping-off after inoculation with P. aphanidermatum. The control efficacy of B. stearothermophilus YC4194 formulation was not different from that of the fungicides, dimethomorph, metalaxyl, ethaboxam. When the cucumber plants were transplanted to the soil inoculated with P. aphanidermatum zoospores, the B. stearothermophilus YC4194 maintained the high population density in rhizosphere soil upto 10$^{7}$ cfu/g until 15 days after treatment.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.418-426
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• 2013

Pseudomonas isolates from different crop plants were screened for in vitro growth inhibition of Phytophthora capsici and production of biosurfactant. Two in vivo experiments were performed to determine the efficacy of selected Pseudomonas strains against Phytophthora blight of pepper by comparing two fungicide treatments [acibenzolar-S-methyl (ASM) and ASM + mefenoxam]. Bacterial isolates were applied by soil drenching ($1{\times}10^9$ cells/ml), ASM ($0.1{\mu}g$ a.i./ml) and ASM + mefenoxam (0.2 mg product/ml) were applied by foliar spraying, and P. capsici inoculum was incorporated into the pot soil three days after treatments. In the first experiment, four Pseudomonas strains resulted in significant reduction from 48.4 to 61.3% in Phytophthora blight severity. In the second experiment, bacterial treatments combining with olive oil (5 mL per plant) significantly enhanced biological control activity, resulting in a reduction of disease level ranging from 56.8 to 81.1%. ASM + mefenoxam was the most effective treatment while ASM alone was less effective in both bioassays. These results indicate that our Pseudomonas fluorescens strains (6L10, 6ba6 and 3ss9) that have biosurfactant-producing abilities are effective against P. capsici on pepper, and enhanced disease suppression could be achieved when they were used in combination with olive oil.

• Mycobiology
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.506-511
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• 2019

We investigated the antifungal activities of an endophytic fungus identified as Acaromyces ingoldii, found on a loblolly (Pinus taeda L.) pine bolt in Louisiana during routine laboratory microbial isolations. The specific objectives were to determine the inhibitory properties of A. ingoldii secondary metabolites (crude extract) on the mycelial growth of a brown-rot fungus Gloeophyllum trabeum and a white-rot fungus Trametes versicolor, and to determine the effective concentration of A. ingoldii crude preparation against the two decay fungi in vitro. Results show the crude preparation of A. ingoldii from liquid culture possesses significant mycelial growth inhibitory properties that are concentration dependent against the brownrot and white-rot fungi evaluated. An increase in the concentration of A. ingoldii secondary metabolites significantly decreased the mycelial growth of both wood decay fungi. G. trabeum was more sensitive to the inhibitory effect of the secondary metabolites than T. versicolor. Identification of specific A. ingoldii secondary metabolites, and analysis of their efficacy/specificity warrants further study. Findings from this work may provide the first indication of useful roles for Acaromyces species in a forest environment, and perhaps a future potential in the development of biocontrol-based wood preservation systems.