SOIL MICROBIAL COMMUNITIES AS A SOURCE OF STRAINS FOR THE BIOLOGICAL PROTECTION OF SOYBEANS AGAINST FUSARIUM IN THE YENISEI SIBERIA

Abstract

Eighteen strains of bacterial antagonists inhibiting growth of Fusarium pathogens of soybean were isolated from soil microbial communities of the Yenisei Siberia. The two most active antagonists (RSA-1 strain, preliminary identified as Bacillus sp., and RSA-13 strain, preliminary identified as Streptomyces sp.) were tested as biological agents to protect soybeans from Fusarium infections in vitro . In the absence of artificial infection, the RSA-1 strain reduced the Fusarium incidence by 25 percentage points (from 61.5% to 36.5%, the statistical significance of the effect was p