Biocontrol potential of Lysobacter antibioticus HS124 against the root-knot nematode, Meloidogyne incognita, causing disease in tomato

Lysobacter antibioticus HS124 is an antagonistic bacterial strain that was previously isolated from the rhizosphere soil of pepper and showed an enhanced ability to produce lytic enzymes as well as an antibiotic that was identified as 4-hydroxyphenylacetic acid (4-HPAA). In the present study, nematicidal activity of the strain and 4-HPAA against the root-knot nematode, Meloidogyne incognita, causing disease in tomato was investigated in both in vitro and in vivo conditions. For this purpose, adding different concentrations of culture filtrate, crude extract collected from extraction with ethyl acetate and 4-HPAA, in 24-well plates containing ca 500 eggs or 300 second-stage juveniles (J2), significantly decreased the rate of nematode hatch and caused higher mortality of 12 compared with the control treatments. Nematicidal activity of the bacterial strain was further confirmed by conducting pot experiments in which tomato plants were inoculated with M. incognita and the HS124 culture (BC). The control pots were treated with commercial nematicide (CN, 5% Ethoprophos), tap water (TW) or the non-inoculated bacterial culture medium (B CM). In these pot experiments, results demonstrated a strong antagonistic potential of L. antibioticus HS124 against M. incognita where the disease was significantly reduced in the pots treated with BC as compared to TW or BCM. Furthermore, the shoot fresh weight was also increased significantly, which may be attributed to the disease control ability of the strain. Hence, L. antibioticus HS124 may be further developed as a potential biocontrol of root knot nematode in the field.