4. Discussion
In this study, the antifungal volatile-producing strains TB09 and
TB72 were selected from a broader screen of candidate soil isolates
and emerged as the most promising biological control agents for
postharvest control of anthracnose on mango fruit. Based on the
sequence analysis of their 16S rDNA region after PCR amplification
and other criteria, TB09 and TB72 were grouped with B. thuringiensis
and B. pumilus, respectively. B. thuringiensis and B. pumilus are
the most important Bacillus species in industrial biotechnology
(Raddadi et al., 2012). The B. pumilus M-38 strain had been evaluated
in a Petri plate against three potato tuber pathogens: Fusarium
culmorum, Fusarium oxysporum and Fusarium sambucinum. The
inhibition zone values of the B. pumilus M-38 strain ranged from
24 to 33 mm (Kotan et al., 2009). B. pumilus has also been tested
for control of gray mold on apples caused by Botrytis mali (Jamalizadeh
et al., 2010). B. thuringiensis has been suggested to be an
important alternative for future use to reduce fungicide application
rates to control postharvest diseases (Lucon et al., 2010). In previous
research, some Bacillus strains, such as Bacillus subtilis, have
played an important role in bio-control of postharvest fungal