3.3. Efficacy of antagonistic yeasts on seeds
The four selected yeasts were evaluated for their antagonistic potential on rice seeds naturally infected by F. fujikuroi incubated in vitro on Komada medium (Table 2). Rice seeds treated with P. guilliermondii R9, M. pulcherrima R23 and R26 significantly reduced the infection rate of F. fujikuroi (14.3%, 16.7%, and 18.0%,
respectively) compared to the commercial biofungicides used in this study (ranging from 28.3% to 35.0%) (Table 3). S. pararoseus SB1 was less effective in the control of F. fujikuroi and it provided results similar to the biofungicide Serenade (B. subtilis). When antagonistic yeasts were applied, rice seeds germination increased compared both to control seeds and seeds treated with biofungicides. Treatment with R9 caused the highest germination rate (99.5%) compared to the other treatments tested (Table 3).