Autochthonous endophytic bacteria from Musa sp. controls Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense under in vitro conditions

Fusarium wilt caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense (foc) is one of the main diseases affecting banana crops. Biological control emerges as an alternative technology to prevent the spread of the disease. The objective of this work was to evaluate the effects of endophytic bacteria isolated from banana Prata Anã challenged with the foc in pairing and volatile tests under in vitro conditions. Forty endophytic isolates of the genera Bacillus, Klebsiella, Paenibacillus, Stenotrophomonas, Lysinibacillus and Sporolactobacillus isolated from banana roots were challenged with foc. The principal component analysis showed that the spore germination variable in the presence of bacterial cells explained better the variance (29.88%). Spore germination in the presence of bacterial cells, number of spores/cm² in paired and volatile tests, and colony area in volatile tests explained about 86.10% of the total variance observed. The isolate EB37 (Bacillus sp., JN215502.1) reduced 96% of the germination of Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense spores. The UPMGA clustering method based on Euclidean distance divides the 40 endophytic bacteria isolates into eight groups. The autochthonous bacteria isolated from Musa sp. of the genera Bacillus, Lysinibacillus, Stenotrophomonas, Sporolactobacillus and Paenibacillus showed promising results in foc control under in vitro conditions.

Key words
Fusarium wilt; biological control; Bacillus spp; spore germination; PCA