PpMYB123 -mediated proanthocyanidin accumulation alleviates bacterial spot disease in peach

Sweet pepper is an important vegetable in the world. Bacterial leaf spot, caused by the pathogen Xanthomonas perforans, is a limiting factor that significantly reduces the quality and yield of sweet peppers. The use of chemical fungicides is currently the main disease-control method for bacterial leaf spot disease. It is important to develop an eco-friendly biocontrol method by using antagonistic microorganisms. Bacillus amyloliquefaciens PMB04 has strong antagonistic effects against pathogens and can inhibit the occurrence of diseases. B. amyloliquefaciens PMB04 has the potential for the development of a disease-control product. Primarily, PMB04 contained a strong inhibitory effect against all isolated X. perforans strains. In the inoculation assay, the severity of bacterial leaf spot disease on sweet peppers was reduced by PMB04 bacterial suspensions. To increase the convenience of field applications in future prospects, the development of the PMB04 fermentation liquid was carried out using different ratios of brown sugar and yeast extract in a 30 L fermentation tank. The results exhibited that the fermentation liquid of the 3-1 and 2-1 formulas obtained the highest bacterial population in a 30 L fermentation tank. The fermentation liquid of the 0.5-0.5 formula was the most stable formula for two different conditions in terms of a consistent bacterial population and sporulation. In addition, the 200-fold dilution of the 3-1 and 0.5-0.5 fermentation liquids revealed the best control efficacy on bacterial leaf spot disease of sweet peppers. Additionally, the results of the 0.5-0.5 fermentation liquid (PMB4FL) with different dilution concentrations also demonstrated that the 200- and 500-fold dilutions had the best control efficacy. To understand the effect of commonly used copper-containing fungicides on sweet peppers on the application of microbial agent PMB4FL, the effects of copper hydroxide and tribasic copper sulfate on the growth of X. perforans strains and B. amyloliquefaciens PMB04 were assayed. The results exhibited that the above two fungicides did not have any inhibitory effect on the growth of PMB04 but had a strong inhibitory effect on the X. perforans strain. In the follow-up control experiment, the treatment of copper hydroxide had no synergistic effect with PMB4FL to control bacterial leaf spot disease. We concluded that the use of the PMB4FL fermentation liquid alone on the leaves could effectively control the occurrence of bacterial leaf spots in sweet pepper crops.

Xanthomonas campestris pv. vesicatoria (Xcv) recovered from Commelina benghalensis L., caused bacterial spot disease in cultivars of pepper and tomato susceptible to the pathogen. This is the first reported case of a dicot-infecting Xc pathovar infecting a monocot plant, represented here by a member of the Family Commelinaceae. Laboratory strains of the pathogen that included 81-23, 81-23M13, 82:4, 2595, and P6AD4, known to be pathogenic to pepper and tomato, promoted bacterial spot symptoms on leaves of C. benghalensis L. Of the 63 field isolates recovered from infected C. benghalensis L., 30 gave biochemical and physiological reactions consistent with Xcv pathogens, whereas 10 of the latter promoted bacterial spot disease in the test cultivars resulting in the identification of seven pathogenic races, including P2, P5, P6, P5T1, P5T2, P6T2, and P6T3. Bacterial spot disease symptoms developed on stems only when C. benghalensis L. was spray-inoculated with strains 81-23, 81-23M13, and P6AD4. Bacterial concentration increased in planta by as much as 103 per lesion of the leaf, whereas growth of the same strains was restricted in the stem of this weed. Growth of these three strains was, however, significantly (P ≤ 0.05) lower on NYGA amended with C. benghalensis L. stem extract than on NYGA amended with leaf extract. The ability of the bacterial spot pathogen to infect the stem of C. benghalensis L. has serious implications for management of bacterial spot disease in fields populated with this weed since stems of this plant infected with the pathogen continue to grow vegetatively and disperse throughout all fields in which it is found.

Mango bacterial angular spot disease, caused by a bacterial pathogen, increasingly threatens mango production and has become a significant bottleneck to the sustainable development of the mango industry. The pathogen can spread through air and soil, but the impact of these transmission routes on the microbial community structures in the rhizosphere and phyllosphere remains unclear. Understanding how this disease alters microbial dynamics is crucial for developing effective management strategies. The disease significantly disrupted both rhizosphere and phyllosphere microbial communities, with a decrease in diversity and a reduction in beneficial microbes. Fumigation effectively reduced the abundance of the mango bacterial angular spot pathogen, with ethylicin showing the strongest effect. In addition, fumigation enhanced the competitive advantage of beneficial microbes, with the relative abundance of Bacillus and Lecanicillium rising by more than 60%. Fumigation reshaped the microbial communities, with fungal communities in both the rhizosphere and phyllosphere returning to a healthier state and bacterial communities undergoing dynamic adjustments. In particular, Proteobacteria dominated the phyllosphere, while Firmicutes exhibited increased relative abundance in the soil. This study provides valuable insights into the microbial interactions associated with mango bacterial angular spot disease and highlights the role of soil fumigation in reshaping plant-associated microbiomes. The findings support the potential of fumigants in managing mango bacterial angular spot disease through microbial community regulation and offer a foundation for future research into microbial-based disease control strategies. © 2025 Society of Chemical Industry.

Bell Pepper, also called Capsicum, is a widely grown crop that suffers primarily from bacterial spot disease causing severe damage to the plant by dropping its leaves and fruits. The current methods to detect the disease are either through lab diagnosis, which takes quite an amount of time and may lead to further spreading of the disease throughout the crop, or an experienced eye. Focusing on this issue, this paper implements 3 Convolution Neural Network (CNN) architectures, namely, InceptionV3, ResNet50 and VGG16 via transfer learning technique to detect bacterial leaf spot disease in Bell Pepper Plant with the help of images from Plant Village dataset. These models were trained and tested over 2442 images of diseased and healthy leaves. The dataset images have also been augmented in various degrees to get better results. Further, fine tuning of the models by varying learning rates, batch size, epochs etc. has resulted in very high accuracies. VGG16 gives the best results with 99.72% accuracy and 0.998 AUC. ResNet50 showed 99.31% accuracy and 0.994 AUC whereas InceptionV3 resulted in the least of three with 95.77% accuracy and 0.953 AUC. These models are chosen due to their variable architectural differences and their performances are later compared using Accuracy, Loss, F1-score and AUC-ROC curve as performance metrics. The results in this paper show considerable improvement as compared to other research papers on detection of diseases in Bell Pepper plant. They can be helpful in the agriculture sector in timely detection of bacterial spot disease.

Bacterial diseases are a major cause of yield loss in tomato plants worldwide, and there is a need to identify strategies for control of these diseases. Bacterial wilt caused by Ralstonia solanacearum (RS) and bacterial spot caused by Xanthomonas axonopodis pv vesicatoria (Xav) are amongst the bacterial diseases affecting tomato crops. The current study investigates Euphorbia hirta (E. hirta) methanol extract (EHM) for its antibacterial activity against RS, and Xav induced diseases in tomato plants, along with its biostimulant potential in increasing fruit yield. EHM at 1280 mg/L exhibited 90% inhibition in the growth of both RS and Xav bacteria. Further, evaluation of EHM on Arka Vikas, a susceptible tomato variety, showed that pre-treatment of 15 days and 45 days tomato plants with 1280 mg/L EHM exhibited moderate resistance to bacterial wilt and spot disease, respectively, with increased tomato yield and improved chlorophyll b levels compared to control plants. The effectiveness of EHM in increasing fruit yield was further confirmed using field evaluation on ‘Namdhari NS 538’ variety of tomato plants. A 3.5-fold increase in numbers and weight of tomato was observed with foliar application of EHM (1280 mg/L). A significant reduction in fruit spoilage along with an increase in mRNA level of ethylene receptor factor (ERF1) was also observed. The study is the first to demonstrate the cost-effective and eco-friendly antibacterial and biostimulant potential of EHM (1280 mg/L) for tomato plants.

This study aimed to survey, characterize, and identify the causal pathogen of tomato bacterial spots (TBS). The survey evaluated the disease incidence and severity on tomato cultivated in Blue Nile State during the autumn season 2015. The surveyed sites were in Alrosseris and Aldmazein localities. Four farms were selected from each locality. Symptomatic leaves were collected and sent to plant pathology laboratory, Department of Crop protection, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Khartoum for detection of the pathogen. Pathogenicity of the isolated bacteria was confirmed by relevant test. The pathogen was isolated and characterized morphologically, biochemically and at molecular level. The survey revealed that there was no significant difference in disease incidence within each locality, while there were significant differences (P ≤ 0.05) among locations within both localities in disease severity. The disease incidence was remarkably high in Alrosseris and Aldamazein which recorded 49.27 and 52.17 %, respectively, while the disease severity was 28.28 and 30.32%, respectively. The results showed that the isolates were rod shaped, obligate aerobic, Gram negative, catalase positive, oxidase negative, and were able to hydrolyse starch and gelatine, yellow colonies on nutrient agar and Yeast Dextrose Calcium carbonate (YDC) media. In the pathogenicity test, the bacterium known as Xanthomonas vesicatoria was confirmed to be as Xanthomonas euvesicatoria by PCR and sequence analysis of the 16S RNA gene (Gen Bank Accession No's MH047248, MH051263 and MG686236).These results also indicate that the tomato plants grown in Blue Nile State were highly infected by the bacterial leaf spots. Further studies should be considered to determine potential yield loss caused by the pathogen, as well as control strategies to limit the spread of this pathogen. To our knowledge, this is the first report of Xanthomonas euvesicatoria causing bacterial spot disease in tomato in Sudan

Bacterial spot disease was first reported from South Africa by Ethel M. Doidge in 1920. In the ensuing century after the initial discovery, the pathogen has gained global attention in plant pathology research, providing insights into host–pathogen interactions, pathogen evolution, and effector discovery, such as the first discovery of transcription activation-like effectors, among many others. Four distinct genetic groups, including Xanthomonas euvesicatoria (proposed name: X. euvesicatoria pv. euvesicatoria), Xanthomonas perforans (proposed name: X. euvesicatoria pv. perforans), Xanthomonas gardneri (proposed name: Xanthomonas hortorum pv. gardneri), and Xanthomonas vesicatoria, are known to cause bacterial spot disease. Recently, a new race of a bacterial spot pathogen, race T5, which is a product of recombination between at least two Xanthomonas species, was reported in Nigeria. In this review, our focus is on the progress made on the African continent, vis-à-vis progress made in the global bacterial spot research community to provide a body of information useful for researchers in understanding the diversity, evolutionary changes, and management of the disease in Africa.

Passion fruit is infected by many plant pathogens, including Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. passiflorae, causing bacterial spot disease. This disease has been impaired orchards all over Brazil, resulting in low yield and production. In addition, it results in premature death of plants in the field. This study aimed to analyze the reaction of sour passion fruit genotypes to bacterial spot in leaves under protected cultivation (Experiment 1) and the bacterial spot severity in fruits under field conditions (Experiment 2). Experiment 1 was carried out as a randomized block design (RBD) with subdivided plots, composed of 24 treatments (genotypes), three replications, five plants per plot, and five evaluation dates. Bacterial spot incidence and severity were evaluated using a 0 to 5 grading scale. Evaluations were carried out at a 7-day interval after disease symptoms first appeared. Genotypes differed for mean disease severity and incidence. The bacterial spot disease evaluations showed that genotypes MAR20#46 P3 R4 X Rosa Claro R4 and MD 16 P3 X MAR20#39 P1 R4 presented the lowest scores for the disease incidence in the leaves. S2L AP R1, MAR20#19 ROXO R4 X ECRAM P3 R3, and MD 16 P3 X MAR20#39 P1 R4 were the genotypes with the lowest disease severity scores. Experiment 2 consisted of a RBD with 24 treatments, three replications, and seven plants per plot. Severity assessments were monthly performed on five fruits per plot, totaling three evaluation dates. In this experiment, the percentage of total fruit area with necrotic lesions was measured using a 1 to 4 grading scale. Bacterial spot severity assessments in fruits identified interactions between genotypes and evaluation dates (p ≤ 0.05). The lineages S2L MAR 20#15 R4 and S2L MAR20#19 R2 showed the lowest mean severity scores of bacterial spot in fruit. The genotypes with the lowest mean scores were selected to continue the breeding program.

Tomato is an important vegetable crop and plays a major role in the food and nutrition security of the people of Mali. Production has increased in the recent decades but improvement in the fruit yield and quality remains suboptimal. Limited access to the best-adapted tomato varieties to the local conditions, pests and diseases are the major limiting factors for improving productivity. This study evaluated the performance of different tomato entries and varieties for their productivity, resistance to pests and diseases and postharvest fruit quality in Mali. Twenty-two entries and varieties of tomato in the rainy season and twenty-four in the dry season were evaluated. Varieties that were well adapted, better yielded, disease resistant and with good fruit quality were identified. Major plant diseases observed included tomato yellow leaf curve disease (TYLCD), bacterial wilt, bacterial leaf spot, early blight and southern blight. However, TYLCD was the major problem during the dry season. The variety of Icrixina was the most affected by TYLCD in both the rainy and dry seasons, although its total yield was not affected and remained one of the highest. Konica was one of the most susceptible varieties to bacterial wilt and bacterial leaf spot diseases. Tomato accession AVTO1710 provided the highest fruit yield (40.9 t/ha), while AVTO1704 provided the lowest (6.50 t/ha) in the rainy season. In contrast the highest yield during the dry growing season was 20 t/ha from VIO43614. Tomato entries and varieties varied in their postharvest fruit quality attributes (firmness, total soluble solid, pH and dry matter). Production season clearly influenced yield, disease occurrence and severity, as well as postharvest fruit qualities. The study identified better disease-resistant and yielding tomato entries suitable for rainy and dry growing seasons, which can be considered and scaled up for production so that farmers in Mali can produce tomato all year round.

Bacterial spot disease caused by Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. vesicatoria is considered one of the major diseases of tomato crop worldwide. The objective of this paper was to study the effect of certain essential oils (EOs), lemongrass, oleum and thyme, on X. axonopodis pv. vesicatoria (PHYX14) for controlling bacterial spot disease in tomato plants. The tested three essential oils (EOs) showed antibacterial activity in vitro test at 1:10 concentration against the PHYX14.Thyme oil exhibited the highest inhibition against PHYX14 followed by lemongrass and finally oleum. Under greenhouse conditions, the effect of EOs on the bacterial spot of tomato was evaluated on tomato seedlings. Thyme oil exhibited the highest reducing of tomato bacterial spot followed oleum and then lemongrass. Results indicated that the application of the tested (EOs) to tomato plants two days after the infection caused the highest reduction of disease severity. While the application of oleum oil exhibited the highest induction of the oxidative enzymes, peroxidase (PO) and polyphenol enzyme (PPO). Also increased total phenolic contents of tomato leaves followed lemongrass and then thyme oil as compared by control. The application of EOs two days before the infection caused the highest induction of PO, PPO enzymes and total phenolic contents in tomato leaves than two days after the inoculation.

Bacterial angular leaf spot disease caused by Pseudomonas syringae pv. lachrymans is an important foliage disease of cucumber, under protected cultivation system. The present work was planned to control the disease using bio-agents and abiotic agents alone or combining, under greenhouse and commercial plastic house conditions. Data obtained indicated that application of bio- and abiotic agents decreased severity of bacterial angular leaf spot disease of cucumber, compared with the control. Fluorescent Pseudomonads (Pseudomonas aeruginosa, P. fluorescens and P. putida isolates) were more effectiveness than isolate of Bacillus subtilis to reduce the disease severity, when they were applied as soil drench treatment. Application of abiotic agents as foliar treatment was more effective than as seed treatment to decrease the disease severity. Isolates of P. fluorescens or P. putida as bio-agents and salicylic acid or ethephone as abiotic agents were the most effective against the disease. Disease severity was significantly reduced by increasing rates of abiotic agents. However, interaction between bio-agents (P. fluorescens or P. putida isolates) as soil treatment and abiotic agents (salicylic acid or ethephone) as foliar treatment greatly decreased severity of bacterial angular leaf spot disease of cucumber, under greenhouse and commercial plastic house condition, compared with the control. Combination between P fluorescens isolate as soil treatment and salicylic acid as foliar treatment were the most effective against the disease

Bacterial spot caused by Xanthomonas vesicatoria is considered to be a major constraint of tomato production all over the world in particular warmer and humid parts.A disease disorder was reported in autumn season 2015within the Blue Nile State in Sudanaffecting all aerial parts of tomato plant. Symptomatic tomato leaves were collected and sent toPlant Pathology Laboratory, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Khartoum. An investigation on whether a phytopathogen was associated with symptoms of bacterial spots damage on tomato was conducted.The pathogen wasisolated and characterized morphologically, biochemically and at molecular level. The bacterium wasidentified as Xanthomonaseuvesicatoria and confirmed by PCR and sequence analysis of the 16S RNA gene (GenBankAccession Nos MH047248, MH051263 and MG686236).The disease incidence was remarkably high in ALrosserisand Aldamazein which recorded 49.27 and 52.17%, respectively, while the disease severity was 28.28 and 30.32%, respectively. To our knowledge, this is the first report of Xanthomonaseuvesicatoria causing bacterial spot disease in tomato in Sudan.

BackgroundXanthomonas spp. causes bacterial spot disease, which reduces quality and yield of pepper crops in Mexico. Identification of phytopathogen species is necessary to implement more effective control strategies.ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to isolate and identify infecting Xanthomonas species in South Central Chihuahua pepper-producing areas.MethodsDiseased plants were collected from 30 cultivation lots and bacteria were isolated from damaged tissues. Potential causative agents were isolated, identified, and characterized by biochemical and molecular analysis. Pathogenicity tests from each isolate were then performed on 30-d-old pepper seedlings, exposing five leaves to 10 µL of 1 × 108 CFU/mL bacterial suspensions of each isolate, using sterile distilled water as a control. Disease severity was determined after 10 d by calculating leaf damage percentage. Furthermore, we evaluated the susceptibility of the highest bacterial spot severity-causing isolates (13 isolates) to copper sulphate (CuS), copper gluconate (CuG), copper oxychloride + oxytetracycline hydrochloride (Cu + Ox), gentamicin + oxytetracycline hydrochloride (Gen + Ox), and gentamicin sulphate (GenS). Copper-resistance genes (copLAB) were detected by PCR analysis among isolates.ResultsThirty-seven foliage isolates were identified as Xanthomonas euvesicatoria (14%), which were associated with bacterial spot disease in jalapeño pepper. Tested Xanthomonas isolates were resistant to Cu-based compounds, but susceptible to Cu + Ox. All isolates were susceptible to Gen + Ox and GenS. CopLAB genes were detected in all but one strain.ConclusionsX. euvesicatoria (formally X. perforans) may be considered as an emerging pathogen of bacterial spot pepper in Mexico. Among disease management strategies, alternatives to copper should be taken into consideration.

In order to develop weather-based forecasting model of bacterial leaf spot (BLS) disease of mulberry caused by Xanthomonas campestris pv. mori, weekly disease severity data were recorded for three years on the ruling cultivar S-1. Daily meteorological data viz. maximum temperature, minimum temperature, maximum relative humidity, minimum relative humidity, rainfall and number of rainy days were also recorded. It was observed that BLS appeared in April/May and continued up to November with maximum severity in July. The correlation coefficient between disease severity and meteorological parameters revealed that the BLS disease severity has significant positive correlation with minimum temperatures, maximum and minimum relative humidity, rainfall and number of rainy days and negative correlation with maximum temperature. Multiple regressions analysis revealed that average of maximum temperature, minimum temperature and rainfall of preceding seven days and maximum relative humidity, minimum relative humidity of previous 9–15 days was found to maximally influence BLS disease severity. The contribution of the meteorological factors was found to be highest of minimum temperature (40.65%) followed by maximum temperature (24.20%), maximum relative humidity (16.41%), minimum relative humidity (8.07%), rainfall (5.29%) and number of rainy days (5.38%).

‘White Diamond’ and ‘White Cloud’ are the fourth and fifth white-fleshed peach releases from the University of Arkansas peach [Prunus persica (L.) Batsch] breeding program. Prior releases include ‘White River’ (2002) (Clark and Moore, 2003) and ‘White Rock’ and ‘White County’ (2004) (Clark et al., 2005). The program began in the 1960s (Clark et al., 1999) and included an objective to develop adapted white-fleshed peach cultivars for on-farm, local, and shipping sales. This group of cultivars provides for 6 to 7 weeks of adapted white peaches for Arkansas growers and other producers in similar climates. ‘White Diamond’ is a late-season maturity freestone with very firm flesh that softens when fully ripe and is low acid in flavor. ‘White Cloud’ is an early, midseason clingstone with non-melting flesh like that found in processing cling peaches. It has a standard acid flavor. These cultivars have good to very good resistance to bacterial spot [caused by Xanthomonas campestris pv. pruni (Smith) Dye] and should provide high-quality options for growers in areas where bacterial spot disease is a concern. These cultivars also expand options for growers in the midto the upper southern United States and other areas of the world with similar climatic conditions.