Endophytic Bacteria as Apotential Agent for Control of Tomato Wilt Caused by Fusariumoxysporum F.Sp Lycopersici

Abstract

This study was conducted at the college of Agriculture / University of Basrah  during 2020/2021 season ,with  aim of isolating the endophytic bacteria from internal tissue of healthy  tomato plants and their associated weeds and evaluating their  efficiency in reducing tomato wilt caused by Fusarium oxysporum f.sp lycopersici . Ten isolates  out of eighty-two isolate obtained  from  tomato plants and some associated weeds showed efficiency in inhibiting the growth of the F.O.L both in well and dual culture technique. Identification of endophytic bacteria by VITEK2 device   showed that three of them belong to Pseudomonas aeruginosa , one belong to P.putida while the others belong Staphylococcus lentus ,Enterobacter dissolvens , Alloiococcus otitis and Serratia marcesens. Pot experiment showed that soaking  tomato seedling roots with suspension of P.aeruginosa or P.putida  led to a reduction of tomato wilt  incidence from 100%  in control treatment to 41.7% and disease severity from 45.8% to 16.7%,and increased chlorophyll content and polyphenol oxidase and peroxidase activety.