Biocontrol of Tomato Foot and Root Rot by Pseudomonas in Stonewool

Plant diseases have become a permanent threat since§human societies started to rely on agriculture as on§a major food provider. Back in history, outbreaks of§plant diseases resulted in many human catastrophes.§Even nowadays the crop loss due to phytopathogens is§estimated as 15-20 % reduction of the yield§worldwide. Chemical pesticides, used for crop§protection, cause damage to the environment and a§hazard to human health.§The use of wild type microbes as a pesticides has§become the promising alternative for replacing§chemicals or, at least, reducing their use.§This work describes isolation, characterization and§industrial testing of a biocontrol agent which§protects tomato against foot and root rot caused by a§phytopathogenic fungus Fusarium oxysporum. The§mechanism which is exploited by the agent of§biological control is seems to be based on§competition for nutrients and niches. This means that§the bacterium does not produce any hazardous compound§to protect the plan against the pathogen. Using this§bacterium as a crop protection agent could diminish§risk of plant disease outbreaks in greenhouse tomato§production without application of chemical§pesticides.