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A microbial consortium in the rhizosphere as a new biocontrol approach against fusarium decline of chickpea

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Abstract

Background and aim

Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is an important crop worldwide. Fungi of the genus Fusarium are among the most aggressive pathogens of chickpea, causing plant wilt and/or root rot. The incidence of soilborne pathogens can be reduced by increasing the microbial diversity in the rhizosphere. To improve soil suppressiveness against Fusarium spp., we optimized a microbial consortium consisting in a mixture of bacterial isolates selected from the naturally occurring microflora in the chickpea rhizosphere.

Methods

Beneficial rhizobacteria were selected based on i) their mutual compatibility when grown in mixture, ii) antagonistic activity against F. oxysporum f. sp. ciceris race 0 and F. solani f. sp. pisi and iii) growth promoting capacity on chickpea.

Results

The best results were obtained by using a consortium consisting of a mixture of four bacterial isolates: Serratia marcescens isolate 59, Pseudomonas fluorescens isolate 57, Rahnella aquatilis isolate 36 and Bacillus amyloliquefaciens isolate 63.

Conclusions

This microbial consortium efficiently controlled both Fusarium pathogens, with a consistently higher efficacy compared to those of bacteria applied individually. The putative mechanisms involved in the interaction between antagonists, plant and Fusarium are discussed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Agricultural, Environmental and Food Sciences, University of Molise, Via F. De Sanctis snc, 86100, Campobasso, Italy

    D. Palmieri, D. Vitullo, F. De Curtis & Giuseppe Lima

Authors
  1. D. Palmieri
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  2. D. Vitullo
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  3. F. De Curtis
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  4. Giuseppe Lima
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Giuseppe Lima.

Additional information

Responsible Editor: Birgit Mitter.

Palmieri D. and Vitullo D. contributed equally to this work.

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Palmieri, D., Vitullo, D., De Curtis, F. et al. A microbial consortium in the rhizosphere as a new biocontrol approach against fusarium decline of chickpea. Plant Soil 412, 425–439 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-016-3080-1

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