ANTAGONISTIC ACTIVITY OF SOME BACTERIAL SPECIES AGAINST FUNGI IMPLICATED IN POST-HARVEST DISEASES OF CHILLI PEPPER (CAPSICUM CHINENSE) FRUITS
Keywords:
Biocontrol, chilli pepper, phytopathogenic fungi, post-harvestAbstract
Various fungal species have been implicated in post-harvest diseases of chilli pepper reducing its qualities worldwide. The use of pesticides for the prevention of plant diseases could lead to increased pathogen-resistance and accumulation of the chemical constituents of the pesticides in the environment. This study was therefore undertaken to investigate the in-vitro antagonistic potentials of some bacterial species against phytopathogenic fungi implicated in post-harvest diseases of chilli pepper fruits. Fungi were isolated from diseased chilli pepper fruits and tested for their pathogenicity on healthy chilli pepper fruits. The pathogenic fungi were re-isolated, and identified by colonial and morphological characterization methods. The in-vitro antagonistic activity of Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus cereus, Pseudomonas fluorescens and Lactobacillus plantarum on phytopathogenic fungal isolates was conducted using dual plate culture method. Eight different fungi were isolated from diseased fruits but only four showed visible disease symptoms like fruit rot, black rot, sunken spots and brown discoloration on the healthy pepper fruits with disease severity ranging from 14.0% to 35.0%.These phytopathogenic fungi were identified as strains of Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus terrus, Geotrichum candidum and Fusarium species. The results of in-vitro antagonistic activity showed that Bacillus subtilis, Lactobacillus plantarum, Bacillus cereus and Pseudomonas fluorescens inhibited the growth of the tested phytopathogens with growth inhibition ranging from 20.0% to 57.1%. Bacillus subtilis generally showed maximum growth inhibition of all pathogens, closely followed by Pseudomonas fluorescens. The study therefore showed that B. subtilis and P. fluorescens could be used as biocontrol agents to reduce postharvest diseases of chilli pepper fruits.
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