Suppression of wheat-seedling diseases caused by Fusarium culmorum and Microdochium nivale using bacterial seed treatment

Snow mould, caused by Microdochium nivale , and seedling blight caused by members of the Fusarium complex, are cereal diseases of great economic importance in many temperate zones. In a glasshouse bioassay designed to enhance disease, about 600 plant-associated bacterial isolates obtained by different methods were screened for suppressive effects in wheat against infection caused by Fusarium culmorum . Although most of the isolates tested had a neutral effect on test plants and disease development, a few were synergistic to the pathogen and about one-fifth showed >80% disease suppression. During five consecutive growing seasons, 164 bacterial isolates were tested in field experiments against both F. culmorum and M. nivale as causal agents of seedling blight. Tests for effects on yield in experiments with spring and winter wheat, performed in different climatic regions of Sweden, showed that disease-suppressive effects were repeatable. The most efficient isolates, three fluorescent pseudomonads and a species of Pantoea , suppressed disease equal to that of the fungicide guazatine, both with respect to crop stand and yield. Seed treatment with Pantoea sp. (isolate MF 626) increased yield by an average of more than 500 kg ha(-1) in six field experiments.