Fazli Mabood and David Sanchez
Concentric Agriculture Inc, Canada
Posters & Accepted Abstracts: Health Care Current Reviews
Potato scab, caused by Streptomyces scabies, is a common tuber disease that occurs in almost all potato-growing regions of the world. Although total potato yields are not affected, it results in substantial economic losses due to reduced marketability of the tubers. We have isolated two rhizobacterial isolates showing strong in-vitro antagonistic activity against S. scabies, as indicated by inhibition zones around colonies. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of these two biological control agents in controlling common potato scab disease under greenhouse conditions. Tubers of two potato cultivars (Yukon Gold and Kennebec) were grown in pots and inoculated with rhizobacteria and S. scabies. Plants were allowed to grow until potato vine senescence. Potatoes were harvested and graded for infection and disease severity. Our results demonstrate that application of the two bacterial strains alone or in combination showed reduction of common scab disease on potato by 44-78%. This study highlights the importance of these biocontrol strains in future product development against potato scab disease.
Fazli Mabood earned his PhD at McGill University Montreal, Canada. He also completed his postdoctoral studies from McGill University. Currently, he is working at Concentric Agriculture Inc. as a Senior Research Scientist, Plant-Microbe Interaction. His areas of interest are bioprotection, biofertilizers, Biostimulants and isolation and identification of new biological entities. His work at Concentric focuses on development of its second- and third-generation prodcuts for biostimulation and bioprotection. David Sanchez completed his Masters from UQAM, Montreal, Canada. He is currently working at Concentric Agriculture Inc. as a Research Scientist. His areas of interest are Biostimulants, bioprotection and microbial identification.
E-mail: fmaboobb@concentricag.com