Control of Fusarium verticillioides on corn with a combination of Bacillus subtilis TM3 formulation and botanical pesticides

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the combination of <i>Bacillus subtilis</i> TM3 formulation with botanical pesticides in suppressing <i>Fusarium verticilloides</i> infection in corn. The research was carried out at the Plant Pathology Laboratory and the Experimental Farm of Indonesian Cereals Research Institute (ICERI) from February to November 2019. The research consisted of two stages, namely an in vitro test of antagonists of botanical pesticides against <i>F. verticilloides</i> using 5 types of plant extracts namely betel leaf extract, turmeric, galangal, cosmos, and clove leaf. The second stage was to test the effectiveness of the combination of the formulation of <i>B. subtilis</i> TM3 with the best 3 types of plant extracts in vitro testing in suppressing <i>F. verticilloides</i> infection in plants. The results of the in vitro study showed that the plant extracts of betel leaf, clove leaf and galangal had the best inhibitory ability on the mycelia growth of <i>F. verticilloides</i>. Meanwhile, the field test found that the application of the <i>B. subtilis</i> TM3 formulation, either alone or in combination with plant extracts, was able to suppress <i>F. verticilloides</i> infection. The combination of <i>B. subtilis</i> TM3 formulation with betel leaf extract showed the best inhibition of 20% against stem rot disease and 13.33% against corn cob rot. This treatment did not affect production quantitatively, but was able to suppress the decline in seed quality due to <i>F. verticilloides</i> infection. Seeds grown by the Plastic Rolled Paper Test (PRPT) method were not only infected with <i>F. verticilloides</i>, but also infected with other seed-borne pathogens, such as <i>Aspergillus niger</i> and <i>A. falvus</i>. The presence of these two pathogens did not inhibit the growth of <i>F. verticilloides</i> in kernels.

Access to Document

Other files and links

• Link to publication in Scopus
• Open Access Version Available

Fingerprint