Abstract:

In 2021, post-harvest soil samples were taken from fields where chickpea and wheat were grown in Yozgat province to isolate bacteria. Of 74 isolates obtained from soil samples, 14 nonpathogenic isolates were evaluated for their inhibitory potential against two pathogenic isolates (YBUFoc9 and YBUFoc2) of Fusarium wilt disease agent Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. ciceris. Antagonistic bacterial isolates were identified as Bacillus spp. by Blastn analysis based on their 16S rDNA nucleotide sequences. Among them, 2 isolates were identified as B. amyloliquefaciens (BM23 and BM40), 3 isolates as B. subtilis (BM8, BM32, and BM105), 6 isolates as B. cereus (BM10, BM69, BM70, BM104, BM111 and BM215), 2 isolates as B. megaterium (BM44 and BM135) and 1 isolate as B. pumilus (BM28). No effective isolate of any genus other than Bacillus spp. was found. They inhibited mycelial growth of isolates YBUFoc9 and YBUFoc2 from 0 to 78.50% and from 0 to 58.33%, respectively. Among the 5 different species, B. amyloliquefaciens (BM23 and BM40) and B. subtilis (BM8, BM32, and BM105) showed the strongest inhibitory activity against the two fungal isolates under in vitro conditions. In further studies, the biocontrol properties of the most effective isolates (BM23, BM40, BM8, BM32 and BM105) will be investigated and compared with approved fungicides for their fungicidal activity.

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