Selection and evaluation of phyllosphere yeasts as biocontrol agents against grey mould of tomato
Stefanos Kalogiannis, Sotirios E. Tjamos, Anastasia Stergiou, Polymnia P. Antoniou, Basil N. Ziogas and Eleftherios C. Tjamos
European Journal of Plant Pathology 116 (1): 69-76. 2006.
2006
บทคัดย่อ
Selection and evaluation of phyllosphere yeasts as biocontrol agents against grey mould of tomato
Phyllosphere yeasts antagonistic to the infective activity of Botrytis cinerea were isolated from leaves of greenhouse-grown tomatoes and evaluated in a detached leaf assay for their ability to suppress grey mould. Nine of 30 recovered yeast isolates were found to reduce a disease index by >90% when compared to an untreated control. In greenhouse experiments, the yeast isolate Rhodotorula glutinis Y-44 was the most efficient in controlling grey mould of tomato plants. In further experiments in greenhouse-grown tomato plants the effectiveness of R. glutinis Y-44 was compared with two commercial fungicides. It was demonstrated that R. glutinis Y-44 was as effective as fungicides in controlling the pathogen. Moreover, the population of R. glutinis Y-44 was monitored for 8 weeks after application on tomato plants. The isolate successfully colonized the plant surface, although the population decreased by 10-fold 8 weeks after application. Since B. cinerea is also a major post-harvest pathogen for tomato fruits, the ability of R.␣glutinis Y-44, to protect artificially infected wounded tomato fruits was also tested. It was shown that R.␣glutinis Y-44 was able to reduce by 50% the percentage of infected wounds compared to the untreated controls.