Antifungal protection by endophytic bacteria in legumes

VALETTI, L; SARDO, MF; POSADA GA; GONZALEZ PABLO; PAROLA R; PAREDES JA; MONGUILLOT JH; RUIZ OA; GUZZO MC; MONTEOLIVA MI

Porto Alegre

Congreso; XVIII Brazilian Congress of Plant Physiology; 2022

SAFV Brasil

Peanut and chickpea are two of the major crops cultivated in Cordoba (Argentina), in the summer and winter seasons, respectively. However, different fungal diseases generate substantial yield losses annually. Thecaphora frezii is the causal agent of peanut smut, which cause yield losses of up to 50%. Ascochyta rabiei, causal agent of aschochyta blight, is worldwide spread and reach 100% of losses with favorable environmental conditions. Some tolerant cultivars were recently developed in peanut but there are not effective chemical treatments for any of those fungal diseases. However, beneficial bacteria have the potential to provide antifungal effects that could be used as bioproducts to control these diseases. Our project aims to contribute to the solution by identifying endophytic bacteria with antifungal effects in vitro and in vivo. We isolated bacterial strains in chickpea and screened them for antifungal activity in vitro against A. rabiei and T. frezii. Among 58 evaluated isolates, we detected 9 with antifungal activity in vitro against A rabiei, and from them, 2 presented antifungal activity against T. frezii in vitro. In addition, both two isolates demonstrated a broad-spectrum antifungal activity in vivo (in chickpea leaflets and peanut plants) against both pathogens. The two isolates with dual antifungal activity are the two strongest candidates to evaluate formulations to develop a novel bioinput.