The metalaxyl treatment and the cell suspension drench treatments
of 3 antagonistic bacteria provided equal protection of cucumber
seedlings from damping-off and root rot disease resulting
in a 21- to 24-fold increase in the percentage of healthy seedling
(Fig. 3A). A pre-plant amendment of P. fluorescens 9A-14 and B. subtilis
8B-1 increased the percentage of healthy seedlings over the
infested controls by 27- and 26-fold with talc formulation and 28-
and 27-fold with peat formulation (Fig. 3A), decreased dampingoff
and root rot severity by 68% and 67% with talc formulation and
69% and 66% with peat formulation (Fig. 3B). These 2 antagonistic
bacteria also increased the mean fresh masses of plants by 4.5- and
4.1-fold with talc and by 5.5- and 4.6-fold with peat formulations
over the infested control, or by 22% and 11% with talc and by 47%
and 24% with peat formulations over the noninfested control
(Fig. 3C). No significant differences in total fresh masses were
observed with the application of 3 antagonistic bacteria as drench
or talc formulation, but the peat formulation of isolate 9A-14 significantly
increased the mean fresh masses of cucumber plants as
compared with all other treatments (Fig. 3C).