Control of Colletotrichum acutatum and Plant Growth Promotion of Pepper by Antagonistic Microorganisms

Joon-Hee Han1   Moon-Jong Kim1   Kyoung Su Kim1,*   

Abstract

Anthracnose caused by Collectotrichum acutatum is the most devastating disease of pepper plants in Korea. In this study, we evaluated the effect of selected antagonistic bacteria on control of anthracnose and plant growth promotion of pepper plants under field conditions. Four different bacterial isolates used in the current study were isolated from the pepper rhizosphere (GJ01, GJ11) and tidal flat (LB01, LB14) in previous studies. Four bacterial isolates, together with a control strain (EXTN-1), showed antifungal activity against C. acutatum in a dual culture assay. To test for plant growth promotion effect, seedling vigor index and growth parameters of pepper were measured under field condition. As a result, all four bacterial isolates were effective for improving plant growth promotion. The strain GJ01 was the most effective in improving the seedling vigor on pepper, but the strain GJ11 in increasing the pepper fruit yield. The incidence of anthracnose was inhibited in the range of 63.2~72.5% by treatment of four bacterial isolates. The current study indicated that the four bacterial isolates could be used as potential biological control agents of anthracnose disease of pepper.

Acknowledgements

This study was supported by a grant (PJ00932405) funded by the Rural Development Administration, by a grant(314027-03-2-HD050) funded by Export Promotion Technology Development Program, Ministry of Agriculture,Food and Rural Affairs, and by BioHerb Research Institute,Kangwon National University, Republic of Korea.

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