Influence of applying microbial agents on the quality of sweet pepper
Ying-Ru Liang: Department of Plant Pathology, National Chung Hsing University
<div>Plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria have been indicated as a potential agronomic material for the growth promotion in many crops. Here, experiments were conducted by applying <em>Trichoderma</em> <em>harzianum</em> T23-1, <em>Bacillus amyloliquefaciens</em> Ydj3 and <em>Streptomyces</em> species Cu4 on sweet pepper grown in commercial greenhouses in Taiwan for assessing their potential in growth promotion. These three strains were selected by their enzyme productivity and antagonistic ability against <em>Phytophthora capsici</em>, <em>Botrytis cinerea</em> and<em> Colletotrichum gloeosporioides</em>. Random complete block design was used with three replicates for the treatments with <em>T.</em> <em>harzianum</em> T23-1, <em>B. amyloliquefaciens</em> Ydj3 and <em>Streptomyces</em> species Cu4, and the control. The three strains were applied once per month on sweet pepper in commercial greenhouse and horticultural traits including fruit weight, thickness of fruits, weight of seeds, sweetness (°Brix) and Vitamin C content, were recorded. The highest fruits sweetness was observed by the treatment with strain T23-1 (5.89±0.08 °Brix), followed by the treatment with strain Cu4 (5.64±0.13 °Brix). The Vitamin C content of the sweet pepper was significantly higher by the treatment with strain Ydj3 (799±18.39 mg/g), and the treatment with the strain Cu4 (760.72±14.67 mg/g) compared to the control (730.76±14.38 mg/g). These results suggested that <em>Streptomyces</em> species Cu4 may play a role of quality promotion on sweet pepper and application of the three strains on sweet pepper crops may be potential practice for farmers to derive higher quality of sweet pepper.</div>
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