Utilization of antagonistic bacteria Bacillus subtilis to control Fusarium verticilloides on corn

Abstract

Abstract Among a number of important diseases in maize plants, the disease caused by fungi Fusarium verticilloides needs attention because this fungus can cause decay on corn stalks and cobs causing economic losses. The aim of this study was to test several levels of the dosage formulations of B. subtilis BNt4 and TM3 to suppress the incidence of F. verticilloides in corn plants. F. verticilloides isolates were propagated by toothpick contamination method. The experiment was conducted in Bajeng Experimental Farm in 2018. The treatment was arranged in Factorial Randomized Block Design (RBD) with 3 replications. The first factor was the formulation of B. subtilis consisting of 2 strains namely B. subtilis BNt4 (F1) formulation and B. subtilis TM3 (F2) formulation. The second factor was the dosage application for antagonistic bacterial formulations. The results of the study showed that the application of the B. subtilis formulation, in general, is able to suppress the incidence of F. verticilliodes on corn plants both on the stem and on the seeds. The application of B. subtilis TM3 formulation at a dose of 2.5 kg/ha gave the highest inhibition to the severity of Fusarium stem rot at 53.49%. The effect is implicated to the quality of seeds by showing the lowest percentage of ear rot which is 3.81%. This disease control technique I able to reduce the yield loss and the decreased quality of the maize grain due to F. verticilloides infection.