Biocontrol of Tomato Foot and Root Rot by Pseudomonas in Stonewool

Plant diseases have become a permanent threat since
human societies started to rely on agriculture as on
a major food provider. Back in history, outbreaks of
plant diseases resulted in many human catastrophes.
Even nowadays the crop loss due to phytopathogens is
estimated as 15-20 % reduction of the yield
worldwide. Chemical pesticides, used for crop
protection, cause damage to the environment and a
hazard to human health.
The use of wild type microbes as a pesticides has
become the promising alternative for replacing
chemicals or, at least, reducing their use.
This work describes isolation, characterization and
industrial testing of a biocontrol agent which
protects tomato against foot and root rot caused by a
phytopathogenic fungus Fusarium oxysporum. The
mechanism which is exploited by the agent of
biological control is seems to be based on
competition for nutrients and niches. This means that
the bacterium does not produce any hazardous compound
to protect the plan against the pathogen. Using this
bacterium as a crop protection agent could diminish
risk of plant disease outbreaks in greenhouse tomato
production without application of chemical
pesticides.

Autorentext
Shamil Zavdatovich Validov was born on the 5th of March 1971 in
Kazan, Republic Tatarstan of Soviet Union. In 1993 he received
his master degree on genetics in Kazan State University. He
defended his thesis and was awarded the PhD degree in Leiden
University in 6 December 2007.

Klappentext
Plant diseases have become a permanent threat since human societies started to rely on agriculture as on a major food provider. Back in history, outbreaks of plant diseases resulted in many human catastrophes. Even nowadays the crop loss due to phytopathogens is estimated as 15-20 % reduction of the yield worldwide. Chemical pesticides, used for crop protection, cause damage to the environment and a hazard to human health. The use of wild type microbes as a pesticides has become the promising alternative for replacing chemicals or, at least, reducing their use. This work describes isolation, characterization and industrial testing of a biocontrol agent which protects tomato against foot and root rot caused by a phytopathogenic fungus Fusarium oxysporum. The mechanism which is exploited by the agent of biological control is seems to be based on competition for nutrients and niches. This means that the bacterium does not produce any hazardous compound to protect the plan against the pathogen. Using this bacterium as a crop protection agent could diminish risk of plant disease outbreaks in greenhouse tomato production without application of chemical pesticides.