Antagonistic activity of Bacillus sp. strain isolated in Córdoba, Argentina against Macrophomina phaseolina (Tassi) Goid

Abstract

The antifungal activity of Bacillus spp.strains has been already reported against a different number of phytopathogenicfungi3. Some species belonging to thisgenus (i.e. B. subtilis, B. pumilus and B. licheniformis) are considered GRAS (generally regarding as safe) microorganisms and exhibit potential to enhance plant growth by the production of an amplenumber of beneficial substances1,portraying these species as an environmentally friendly alternative tochemical fungicides. Macrophomina phaseolina (Tassi) Goid is a wide range soil-bornephytopathogenic fungus causing charcoal rot to several significant plant crops in Argentina (i.e. soybean, common bean,peanuts and corn)5,6 and is also capableto affect more than five hundred plant species worldwide4. Its ability to infect these hostplants is commonly correlated to the production of viable sclerotia, anon-sporic resistance structure constituted by a mass of densely packed hyphae, in the field5. In this work, we report theisolation of a Bacillus sp. strain 11.1 obtained from soil samples from Córdoba Province,Argentina2exhibiting a strongantagonistic activity against M. phaseolina. In order to analyse thepotential antagonistic effect of strain 11.1, both microorganisms were grown on dual culture platescontained potato dextrose agar (PDA) and tryptone soya agar (TSA) (1:1 v/v) and incubated for 48-72hours at 28ºC (Figure 1). An important and irreversible inhibition of the fungal growth was showed (Figure1A). In addition, the fungal mycelium located at the edge of the inhibited region was analysed bymicroscopic examination. The most evident antagonistic effect over the fungus was depicted by the lack ofblack pigmentation and the reduced size of formed sclerotiain comparison with the control (Figure 1B and C).