Hamed El-Sayed Abou Aly
Professor
Endophytic chitinase and antifungal metabolites-producing actinobacteria for biological control of cucumber damping off disease
Journal of Plant Pathology • 2024
Publication Information
Authors
El-Akshar, Eman A., Rasha M. El-Meihy, T. A. Tewfike, Latifa Al Husnain, Muneera D.F. Alkahtani, Nahla A.Bouqellah, Hawazen K. Al-Gheffari and Hamed E. Abou-Aly
Keywords
Not Available
Journal
Journal of Plant Pathology
Publisher
Not Available
Volume
107
Issue
Not Available
Pages
469-490
publication.type
International
Paper Link
Open Link
Supplementary Materials
Not Available
Abstract
Fungal infections cause heavy losses to plants and are usually controlled using common fungicides, which cause environmental pollution and affect health. Thus, the study aims to isolate and identify the highly active chitinolytic endophytic actinomycetes from healthy cucumber plants and evaluate their biological activity against soil-borne pathogenic fungi as alternative eco-friendly fungicides. Thirty-four actinomycetes isolates were screened for chitinase activity, antifungal activity against Fusarium solani and Rhizoctonia solani, and their ability to produce siderophores, ammonia, and hydrogen cyanide. The best performance Streptomyces isolates, ER15 and ES55, showed a reduced fungal mycelium at 88 and 86%, respectively. The most efficient isolates, ER15 and ES55, were identified using biochemical and molecular techniques. According to the 16 S rRNA gene, ER15 was identified as Streptomyces enissocaesilis, and ES55 was identified as Streptomyces rochei. Scanning electron microscopy showed that S. enissocaesilis and S. rochei degrade the fungal mycelia. A greenhouse experiment evaluated the effectiveness of endophytic strains S. enissocaesilis, and S. rochei, as plant resistance inducers against F. solani and R. solani infected cucumber. The study found that inoculating cucumber with Streptomyces strains colonized cucumber roots endophytically, increased the survival rates to 98–100%, suppressed pathogenic activities, and amplified microbial activities such as increasing chitinase by 6 fold, dehydrogenase (DHA) by 5.5 fold, peroxidase, and polyphenol oxidase compared to control. Thus, improved NPK uptake in cucumber shoots improved growth performance and yield. It can be concluded that Streptomyces enissocaesilis and S. rochei are promising biological control agents against soil-borne pathogens as eco-friendly fungicides. Also, these endophytic strains are beneficial for crop production in nutrient-poor soils.
