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Volume 07
Advances in Crop Science and Technology
ISSN: 2329-8863
Agri 2019
August 15-16, 2019
conference
series
.com
August 15-16, 2019 | Rome, Italy
14
th
International Conference on
Agriculture & Horticulture
Page 22
Ze-Chun Yuan, Adv Crop Sci Tech 2019, Volume 07
Isolation, characterization and application of beneficial bacteria for sustainable agriculture and
horticulture
C
hemical fertilizers and pesticides have been heavily used in agriculture and horticulture food production, resulting
in serious concerns including food safety and eco-system sustainability. Plant growth promoting bacteria are able to
improve plant health and productivity and reduce pathogens and diseases, representing an ecologically-friendly alternative
to chemical fertilizers and pesticides. We recently isolated various beneficial bacterial species including
Paenibacillus
polymyxa
CR1 (
BMC Genomics
2014;
Frontiers in Microbiology
2015;
BMCMicrobiology
2016);
Bacillus velezensis
strain
9D-6 (
BMC Microbiology
2019);
Bacillus velezensis
strain 1B-23 (
GenBank Accession
: NZ_CP033967.1) and
Burkholderia
cenocepacia
CR318 (
Genome Announcements
2017). These beneficial bacteria are capable of promoting crop health and
inhibiting the growth of wide range of bacterial and fungal pathogens. In particular,
Bacillus velezensis
strain 9D-6 and
1B-23 produce surfactin, the most powerful biosurfactant. Surfactin aids in biocontrol through its antimicrobial action
and through contribution to reducing biofilm formation. Our study further indicated that
Bacillus velezensis
strain 9D-6
and 1B-23 protect tomato plants from bacterial canker disease caused by
Clavibacter michiganensis pv michiganensis
.
Interestingly, we found strain 1B-23 produces surfactin more efficiently at temperature between 16 to 20 °C. Our results
suggest the potential of using beneficial bacteria to develop inoculants to protect agricultural important crops while
reducing the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, towards more sustainable agriculture and horticulture.
Ze-Chun Yuan
University of Western Ontario, Canada
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Canada