Screening and Identification of the antagonistic strain DL-59 of B. velezensis against A. brassicae and biocontrol efficiency

Abstract

The aim of this study was to screen the antagonistic spore-forming bacteria of Alternaria brassicae and to assess their control effect. The test microorganism was A. brassicae in this experiment. One spore-forming strain named DL-59 with a rather stronger antagonistic activity than ever reported was obtained by using an improved agar plate diffusion method. Morphological, physiological and biochemical tests combined with 16S rDNA sequence analysis were carried out to identify DL-59. Its control effect was studied in the basin culture and the plot trials. Two hundred strains were isolated form soil and 20 antagonistic bacteria strains were obtained through preliminary screen. After the secondary screening, a strain named DL-59 with a rather stronger antagonistic activity was obtained and identified as B. velezensis with the largest diameter of inhibition zone of 23 mm. The control efficacy was 79.07%. The plot trials showed that DL-59 had a visible preventive effect on cabbage black spot disease. This can be applied for biological control of plant disease. The strain can produce spores, which is important for the storage of its preparation.