Sclerotinia sclerotiorum causes serious yield losses in oilseed rape and other crops worldwide. Field trials were conducted at two locations to evaluate two formulations of oilseed rape seed containing the plantgrowth promoting bacterium Bacillus megaterium A6 for suppression of this pathogen. Treatments containing strain A6 in pellet and in wrap formulations resulted in oilseed rape seed yields that were similar to the chemical control and significantly greater than the untreated seed control at both locations.
Treatments containing A6 in pellet and wrap formulations also resulted in an incidence of disease caused
by S. sclerotiorum that was similar to the chemical control. Both of these treatments significantly
decreased disease incidence relative to the untreated seed control and to the respective formulated seed
controls (that did not contain strain A6) at both locations. Strain A6 applied to oilseed rape seed in these
two formulations promoted growth in greenhouse pot studies conducted with autoclaved soil. In two
experiments, these treatments resulted in significant increases in mean shoot dry weight per pot and
mean % total N per plant relative to their respective controls containing formulated oilseed rape seed
without strain A6 and to the untreated seed control. Both formulations provided stable B. megaterium A6
(106 CFU) and seed germination (>85%) over a six month period at room temperature. Experiments
reported here indicate the commercial potential of these formulations of B. megaterium A6 for suppression
of S. sclerotiorum on oilseed rape.