Fusarium head blight biological control with Lysobacter enzymogenes strain C3

Fusarium head blight (FHB), caused by Fusarium graminearum (= Gibberella zeae), is a destructive disease of wheat for which biological controls are needed. Lysobacter enzymogenes strain C3, a bacterial antagonist of fungal pathogens via lytic enzymes and induced resistance, was evaluated in this study for control of FHB. In greenhouse experiments, chitin broth cultures of C3 reduced FHB severity to <10% infected spikelets as compared to >80% severity in the controls in some experiments. C3 broth cultures heated to inactivate cells and lytic enzymes, but retaining the elicitor factor for induced resistance, also were effective in reducing FHB severity, suggesting induced resistance is one mechanism of action. C3 broth cultures also were effective when applied in highly diluted form and when applied 1 week prior to pathogen inoculation. When applied to 8 cultivars of hard red spring wheat in the greenhouse, C3 treatments reduced FHB in 5 cultivars but not in the others. These findings also are consistent with induced resistance. Protection offered by C3 treatments, however, was not systemic and required that C3 be applied uniformly to all susceptible florets. Field tests were conducted in South Dakota and Nebraska to evaluate the efficacy of C3 chitin broth cultures in spring and winter wheat, respectively. In experiments involving two hard red spring wheat cultivars, treatment with C3 reduced FHB severity in ‘Russ’ but not in ‘Ingot’. In three other field experiments comparing C3, the fungicide tebuconazole, and the combination of C3 and tebuconazole, treatments with the bacterial culture alone and the fungicide alone were inconsistent across experiments, each treatment being ineffective in controlling FHB in one experiment. The biocontrol agent–fungicide combination was more consistently effective, reducing FHB incidence or severity in all three experiments. Thus, the potential for using L. enzymogenes C3 as a biological control agent for FHB was demonstrated along with a number of factors that might affect control efficacy in the field.