Antifungal Activity of the Dry Biomass of Penicillium chrysogenum F-24-28 and Is Application in Combination with Azoxystrobin for Efficient Crop Protection

The developing resistance of plant pathogenic fungi to commercial fungicides has become a serious problem for efficient plant disease control. The use of antifungal preparations based on living microorganisms or their metabolites represents one of the possible environmentally friendly approaches. However, since a complete rejection of chemical fungicides is impossible, the combining of biopreparations and fungicides may be considered a promising biocontrol approach. Promising strains for the development of antifungal biopreparations include Penicillium fungi producing various biologically active compounds with antimicrobial and antiviral activities. A dry biomass of the P. chrysogenum F-24-28 strain (DMP) obtained from the P. chrysogenum VKPM F-1310 strain by induced mutagenesis possessed a high antifungal efficiency. According to in vitro experiments, supplementation of agarized medium with DMP (7.5-10 g/L) resulted in a significant growth inhibition in several plant pathogenic Fusarium fungi. The combination of DMP with a commercial azoxystrobin-based fungicide resulted in a prolonged growth inhibition in F. oxysporum, F. graminearum and F. culmorum even at fungicide concentrations significantly below the recommended level (0.5-2.5 mg/L or 2.5-12.5 g/ha vs. the recommended 100-275 g/ha). These results demonstrate a possibility to develop an efficient environmentally friendly biopreparation suitable to control crop diseases caused by a wide range of plant pathogens, and to prevent a possible selection and spreading of resistant pathogen strains.

Automated summary

The increasing resistance of plant pathogenic fungi to commercial fungicides has become a serious issue, and antifungal preparations based on living microorganisms or their metabolites offer a potentially eco-friendly solution. Combining bio preparations with fungicides shows promise as a biocontrol approach, with Penicillium fungi strains producing biologically active compounds demonstrating high antifungal efficiency. Using a combination of these strains with commercial fungicides has shown prolonged growth inhibition in various plant pathogenic fungi, indicating the potential for developing an effective environmentally friendly biopreparation for crop disease control.