Although the number of commercial biocontrol products
on the market is growing, their contribution to plant
health management is relatively modest. Continued research
in biocontrol is needed to develop the products,
ensure they are efficacious, and support their uptake for
sustainable agricultural production. Alternatives should
be available if recommended management tools fail
(Fravel 2005). We studied the ability of B. subtilis
IAB/BS03 to confer protection against different pathogens,
and we characterised possible mechanisms
involved.
Protectant effects of B. subtilis IAB/BS03 on
greenhouse-grown tomato plants against B. cinerea
and P. syringae were demonstrated and had comparable
efficacies to the synthetic pesticides used as positive
controls.
Progress from greenhouse trials to field trials has
been described as an important step to achieve practical
applications of induced resistance elicited by PGPRs.
Several Bacillus spp. strains, which first demonstrated
efficacy in reducing disease in greenhouse trials, have
been tested under field conditions (Kloepper et al.
2004). We tested the potential of B. subtilis IAB/BS03
in open field lettuce against B. lactucae. Our results