Abstract
Background
The plant pathogenic fungi,
Alternaria solani
and
Fusarium oxysporum
, are considered among the fungal pathogens which cause severe damages to tomato plants. The application of chemicals fungicides reduced fungal infection and entails great risks to human health and to the environment. Using biological control agents is considered one of the most effective techniques which suppress fungal pathogens and preserve the environment. The beneficial bacterium,
Lysobacter enzymogenes
, is applied as a biocontrol agent against different plant pathogens.
Results
The present work was carried out, under laboratory conditions, to investigate the efficacy of
L. enzymogenes
different concentrations of the strain ch3B10 on controlling the linear growth of
A. solani
and
F. oxysporum
compared to using the fungicide Benlate®. Treatment with Benlate® and the highest concentration (2 × 10
8
CFU/ml) of
L. enzymogenes
strain ch3B10 showed the highest inhibition of 70.6–94.0% on linear growth of all the tested fungi. Also, treatments with two concentrations (2 × 10
6
and 2 × 10
7
CFU/ml) of
L. enzymogenes
strain ch3B10 inhibited linear growth of all tested fungi by means of 47.1–69.7%. The low concentration of 2 × 10
3
CFU/ml of the strain ch3B10 resulted in the lowest linear growth inhibition 19.8–28.1% in all tested than the check treatment.
Conclusion
Further experiments under both greenhouse and field conditions are needed to approve the efficacy of the strain ch3B10 as an effective bioagent and ecologically safer approach than chemical treatments.