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Biological Control of Cyclamen Soilborne Diseases by Serratia marcescens Strain B2

March 2000 , Volume 84 , Number  3
Pages  334 - 340

N. Someya and N. Kataoka , Faculty of Agriculture, Ibaraki University, Ami-machi, Ibaraki 300-0393, Japan ; T. Komagata , Ibaraki Horticultural Research Institute, Minori-machi, Ibaraki 319-02, Japan ; K. Hirayae , Kyushu National Agricultural Experiment Station, Nishigoshi, Kumamoto 861-11, Japan ; T. Hibi , Faculty of Agriculture, The University of Tokyo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113, Japan ; and K. Akutsu , Faculty of Agriculture, Ibaraki University, Ami-machi, Ibaraki 300-03, Japan



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Accepted for publication 30 November 1999.
ABSTRACT

Cyclamen plants were treated with a highly chitinolytic bacterium, Serratia marcescens strain B2, and then challenge inoculated with Rhizoctonia solani sclerotia or Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cyclaminis conidia. The bacterium suppressed these fungal diseases of cyclamen plants, especially the damping off caused by R. solani, in a greenhouse. Strain B2 survived at approximately 106 to 107 CFU/g in soil for 4 months after the initial application under greenhouse conditions. Chitinolytic enzymes and antifungal low-molecular-weight compounds were present in filtrates of S. marcescens B2, which suppressed germination of R. solani sclerotia in vitro.


Additional keywords: antifungal low-molecular-weight compounds, chitinolytic enzymes, Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cyclaminis, Rhizoctonia solani

© 2000 The American Phytopathological Society