The Effect of Media and Light on In Vitro Sporulation of Alternaria Solani.

Early blight of tomato incited by Alternaria solani is an economically significant disease especially in commercial tomato cultivation under greenhouse and field conditions. Since, A. solani is a shy sporulator, the present investigation was taken to assess the optimum in vitro conditons for growth and sporulation of early blight pathogen. Ten A. solani isolates obtained from diseased leaf samples collected different crop growing areas of India were used in the present study. The effect of different incubation periods, fluorescent light, cold-water treatment and media were evaluated. Our results revealed maximum sporulation of A. solani on tomato fruit extract agar medium (TFEA) under continuous light for 7 days at 250C, followed by cold-water treatment and further incubated in darkness at 200C for 48 h. The sporulation of test pathogen was however sparse on V-8 juice agar. Further, the A. solani isolates on V-8 juice agar did not respond to the treatments imposed. Among the isolates, JAS (Jhajjar) isolate, that is more versatile in its ability to produce spores recorded irregular margin with abundant aerial mycelium.

Seleção de bactérias endofíticas de tomateiro como potenciais agentes de biocontrole e de promoção de crescimento / Screening of endophytic bacteria isolated from tomato plants as potencial biocontrol agents and growth promotion

Quarenta isolados bacterianos endofíticos de plantas sadias de tomateiro foram avaliados quanto à sua potencialidade como agentes de biocontrole de doenças do tomateiro. Foi realizada, em casa de vegetação, uma seleção massal utilizando-se Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato e Alternaria solani, como patógenos desafiantes. Com base na média do número de lesões por planta, quatro isolados foram selecionados como potenciais agentes de biocontrole dessas enfermidades fúngica e bacteriana do tomateiro. Esses isolados foram identificados, por meio do sequenciamento do gene 16S do DNA ribossômico, como Acinetobacter johnsonii (UFV-E05), Serratia marcescens (UFV-E13), Sinorhizobium sp. (UFV-E25) e Bacillus megaterium (UFV-E26). Os mesmos isolados selecionados para o biocontrole também foram avaliados quanto à sua capacidade de promover o crescimento em plantas e somente S. marcescens (UFV-E13) proporcionou aumento na altura das plantas.

Forty isolates of endophytic bacteria obtained from healthy tomato plants were tested for their potential as biocontrol agents of tomato diseases. A massal screening was performed at greenhouse using Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato and Alternaria solani as challenging pathogens. Based on the average number of lesions per plant, four isolates were selected as potential agents of biocontrol of these tomato diseases caused by fungi and bacteria. These isolates were identified by 16S ribosomal DNA sequence analysis as Acinetobacter johnsonii (UFV-E05), Serratia marcescens (UFV-E13), Sinorhizobium sp. (UFV-E25) and Bacillus megaterium (UFV-E26). The four endophytes selected for biocontrol were also evaluated for their ability of promoting plant growth and only S. marcescens (UFV-E13) presented increase in the height of the plants.