A combined effect of Bacillus sp., tobacco extracts and plant oils on the control of cruciferous vegetable anthracnose

Abstract

In the present study, Bacillus strains were recovered from aqueous extracts of cut tobacco and characterized to pose a strong antifungal activity against Colletotrichum higginsianum, to promote plant growth and to reduce anthracnose severity on cabbage seedlings. The efficacy of the Bacillus strains on the suppression of spore germination and cabbage anthracnose was improved considerably when tobacco extracts were added during the fermentation processes. Moreover, the addition of peanut pomace, rapeseed pomace, plant oils (moringa oil, peanut oil, soybean oil, sunflower oil, emusilified corn oil and emusilified peanut oil) or magnium-containing fertilizers into medium significantly increased antagonistic activities. Eight tobacco extract-based formulations were developed and used to culture the Bacillus strains, all of which resulted in a significant reduction of anthracnose severity on cabbage seedlings in greenhouse trials. This is a proof-of-concept study, which may open up a new avenue for screening potent biocontrol agents.

Keywords:

• Anthracnose
• fungicide
• pomace
• tobacco extracts
• plant oils

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the “Innovation and Development Center of Sustainable Agriculture” under the Higher Education Sprout Project from the Ministry of Education, Taiwan, ROC to JWH.