We then investigated the possibility of using B. subtilis HK-CSM-
1 as a biological control agent against C. panacicola in vivo and
determined its efficacy relative to treatment with the chemical
fungicide ITA. The fungicide demonstrated good control of
anthracnose in ginseng leaves (Fig. 2D). Interestingly, as shown in
Fig. 2B, B. subtilis HK-CSM-1 effectively attenuated the infection of
C. panacicola on ginseng seedlings, whereas symptoms of an
advanced infection were observed on the water and TSB controls
(Figs. 2A and 2C). The number of infected lesions per container is
indicated in Table 1. B. subtilis HK-CSM-1 was not significantly
different (p < 0.05) from ITA (Table 1) in control efficacy 14 d after
inoculation with the pathogen. In addition, the reduction in the
number of lesions displayed a significantly negative linear correlation
with effect variation (r¼0.9899, p < 0.05). These results are
similar to those in previous studies, which reported variations in
the inhibitory effects of microbial pesticides against pathogen
growth [9]. The degree of protection, in terms of the percentage reduction in
the number of disease lesions, is displayed in Table 1. No significant
difference (p < 0.05) was detected between the B. subtilis HK-CSM-
1 and ITA treatments. The TSB control also displayed a protective
effect (p < 0.05) compared with the control, but lower than that of
B. subtilis HK-CSM-1.