Biological control of fusarium crown and root rot of tomato with antagonistic bacteria and integrated control when combined with the fungicide carbendazim

Two bacterial isolates, Bacillus megaterium (c96) and Burkholderia cepacia (c91), demonstrated to be antagonistic against Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. radicis-lycopersici, the causal organism of fusarium crown and root rot of tomato, were evaluated as biocontrol agents alone and when integrated with the fungicide carbendazim. In an initial screening, these isolates reduced disease incidence by 75 and 88%, respectively. In vitro, both biocontrol agents were highly tolerant to the fungicide carbendazim, commonly used to control fusarium diseases. Carbendazim reduced disease symptoms by over 50% when used at > 50 mu g mL(-1), but had little effect at lower concentrations. Combination of the bacterial isolates and carbendazim gave significant (P <= 0.05) control of the disease when plants were artificially inoculated with the pathogen. Application of carbendazim at a low concentration (1 mu g mL(-1)) in combination with B. cepacia c91 reduced disease symptoms by 46%, compared with a reduction of 20% obtained with the bacterium alone and no control with the chemical treatment alone. A combination of B. megaterium c96 with an increased application rate of 10 mu g mL(-1) carbendazim significantly reduced disease symptoms by 84% compared with inoculated controls and by 77% compared with carbendazim treatment alone. In this experiment, the integrated treatment also slightly outperformed application of 100 mu g mL(-1) carbendazim, and bacteria applied without fungicide also provided good disease control.