PJB-2021-21
Isolation of endophytes that suppress pathogen growth of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.)
Ahmad Nadeem, Teresa L. O’keeffe, Andrew J. Cal, Jeffrey D. Palumbo, Rubina Arshad, Noreen Bibi and Charles C. Lee
Abstract
Plant microbial pathogens destroy a significant percentage of the world’s crops annually. The most common method of combating these pathogens is with chemical microbicides which can have toxic effects upon human health. Our objective was to isolate microbial biocontrol agents that had the ability to suppress plant pathogens. In this study, we isolated endophytic bacteria from leaves of tomato, potato, and pepper plants. Three of the strains were found to have antimicrobial activities and were identified as Bacillus megaterium, Bacillus subtilis and Staphylococcus caprae based on 16S rRNA sequencing. All three strains were tested for agar-based antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli and antifungal activity against pure isolates of Fusarium oxysporum and Fusarium verticillioides. B. subtilis had the most robust antimicrobial potential, followed by S. caprae and B. megaterium. Both B. subtilis and S. caprae conferred antifungal resistance to chickpea seeds. HPLC analysis of cell-free supernatants (CFS) from the endophytic bacteria cultured in different media demonstrated production of acetic, lactic, and propionic acid at various levels. Biochemical profiling by Biolog phenotypic microarray demonstrated that B. subtilis could utilize a wider range of carbohydrates, carboxylic acids, and amino acids as carbon sources compared to S. caprae. These endophytes can potentially be used as a pretreatment of chickpea seeds to reduce common fungal infections
To Cite this article:
Nadeem, A., T.L. O’keeffe, A.J. Cal, J.D. Palumbo, R. Arshad, N. Bibi and C.C. Lee . 2022. Isolation of endophytes that suppress pathogen growth of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.). Pak. J. Bot., 54(5): DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.30848/PJB2022-5(22)
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