Isolation and evaluation of proteolytic actinomycete isolates as novel inducers of pearl millet downy mildew disease protection

Abstract

Native endophytic actinomycetes isolated from pearl millet roots were examined for their efficacy to protect pearl millet against downy mildew. Nineteen of 39 isolates were found to be proteolytic, of which 7 strains could directly suppress the sporangium formation of Sclerospora graminicola, the pearl millet downy mildew pathogen. Thus, mycelial suspensions containing either spores or cell-free extract of these 7 isolates were used for seed-coating and-soaking treatments to test for their induction of downy mildew resistance. Results indicated that seed-coating overall provided better protection to downy mildew than seed-soaking. In both treatments, the tested isolates demonstrated differential abilities in downy mildew disease protection, with Streptomyces griseus SJ-UOM-07-09 and Streptosporangium roseum SJ-UOM-18-09 showing the highest protection rates. Additionally, the levels of disease protection conferred by the actinomycetes were just slightly lower than that of the systemic fungicide Apron, suggesting their effectiveness. Further studies revealed that the more rapid root colonization by SJ-UOM-18-09 resulted in faster and higher induced resistance in comparison with SJ-UOM-07-09 under greenhouse conditions, indicating that SJ-UOM-18-09 was superior than SJ-UOM-07-09 in inducing resistance. Results from this study provide comprehensive information on biocontrol functions of SJ-UOM-18-09 with great potential to control downy mildew disease in pearl millet.