Antagonistic Bacillus spp. reduce blast incidence on rice and increase grain yield under field conditions—Bio control effects on blast disease suppression on rice crop

Publication date: Available online 31 January 2018
Source:Microbiological Research
Author(s): Afroz Rais, Muhammad Shakeel, Kamran Malik, Fauzia Yusuf Hafeez, Humaira Yasmin, Saqib Mumtaz, Muhammad Nadeem Hassan
Rice blast is a severe threat for agricultural production. Plant growth promoting rhizobacteria could be suitable biocontrol agents to reduce the disease incidence. In this study, Bacillus spp. KFP-5, KFP-7, KFP-17 significantly reduced disease severity by 40–52% with grain yield of 3.2–3.9 ton ha⁻¹ in two rice varieties i.e., basmati super and basmati 385. Bacillus spp. significantly colonized the rice rhizosphere with a cell population of 2.40E+06–5.6E+07CFU. Rice plants treated with antagonistic bacterial suspension followed by challenge inoculation with P. oryzae were found to have higher activities of antioxidant enzymes such as superoxide dismutase (308–266 Ug⁻¹ FW), peroxidase (change in absorbance (ΔA) = 0.20–0.71 min⁻¹ g⁻¹ FW), polyphenol oxidase (ΔA = 0.29–0.58 min⁻¹ g⁻¹ FW) and phenylalanine ammonia lyase (ΔA = 0.32–0.59 min⁻¹ g⁻¹ FW). A consistency in the performance of strains was observed in the consecutive years 2013–2014. These findings suggest that indigenous Bacillus spp. could be a potential bio-inoculum for rice to control blast diseases and enhance yield.



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