Open AccessControl of Bacterial Seedling Rot and Seedling Blight of Rice by Bacteriophage
Author(s) -
Naoto Adachi,
Shoichi Tsukamoto,
Yasuhiro Inoue,
Koji Azegami
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
plant disease
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.663
H-Index - 108
eISSN - 1943-7692
pISSN - 0191-2917
DOI - 10.1094/pdis-03-11-0232-re
Subject(s) - seedling , biology , bacteriophage , horticulture , pesticide , seed treatment , blight , bacteria , microbiology and biotechnology , agronomy , escherichia coli , germination , biochemistry , genetics , gene
In Japan, rice seed are immersed in pesticide solutions to prevent seedborne diseases that attack greenhouse seedlings. However, disposal of large quantities of waste pesticide solutions after treatment is costly. As an alternative treatment, bacteriophages (phages) that are highly specific to the target bacteria are considered as potential biocontrol agents. Here, we isolated three phage strains that lyse Burkholderia glumae and B. plantarii, the causative pathogens of seedling rot and seedling blight, respectively. Two phages could lyse both bacteria and clearly suppress these diseases. One of these phages (BGPP-Ar) suppressed these diseases more effectively than existing pesticides: the ratio of seedlings exhibiting disease to the total number of seedlings examined after treatment with BGPP-Ar 1.0 × 10 8 plaque-forming units (PFU)/ml was 0.0 for seedling rot and 2.0 for seedling blight; after treatment with ipconazole/copper (II) hydroxide, the ratios were 14.3 and 15.0, respectively. BGPP-Ar was highly effective in suppressing seedling rot of rice, even at the low concentration of 1.0 × 10 5 PFU/ml. The best phage treatment effect for sterilizing seed is achieved indoors to avoid phage inactivation by UV irradiation. Treatment effect was demonstrated on seed infected with pathogens. Therefore, we consider that phage treatment was effective in this study.