Browsing by Author "Lowman, Scott"

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    A Potential Application of Endophytic Bacteria in Strawberry Production
    Mei, Chuansheng; Amaradasa, B. Sajeewa; Chretien, Robert L.; Liu, Danyang; Snead, George; Samtani, Jayesh B.; Lowman, Scott (MDPI, 2021-11-18)
    Endophytic bacteria could be used as a tool to promote plant growth, enhance abiotic stress tolerance, and inhibit plant pathogen growth. More than 100 bacteria, previously tested to have biocontrol activity against fungal pathogens from our lab, were chosen for pathogen inhibition in vitro with antibiosis assays against strawberry specific pathogens. Three potential endophytic bacteria were tested in the greenhouse for disease reduction and growth performance. Finally, field trials were conducted for fruit yield production. Our results showed that three endophytic bacteria significantly inhibited the growth of the strawberry pathogen Colletotrichum gloeosporioides from antibiosis assays and were identified as Bacillus velezensis strains IALR308, IALR585, and IALR619. Inoculation of these bacteria significantly reduced strawberry disease in greenhouse conditions with pathogen infection. Field trials showed that IALR619 has potential to influence marketable fruit yield when strawberry plants were inoculated twice over the growing season. All three bacteria had the ability to produce auxin and to solubilize phosphate. The antibiotics surfactin and iturin were also detected in IALR585 and IALR619. In conclusion, Bacillus velezensis IALR619 has potential inhibition of strawberry pathogen growth in the greenhouse and possible ability to increase marketable fruit yield in the field.
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    A Potential Application of Pseudomonas psychrotolerans IALR632 for Lettuce Growth Promotion in Hydroponics
    Mei, Chuansheng; Zhou, Dongfang; Chretien, Robert L.; Turner, Amy; Hou, Guichuan; Evans, Michael R.; Lowman, Scott (MDPI, 2023-02-02)
    Controlled environment agriculture hydroponic systems grow plants year-round without restriction from outside environmental conditions. In order to further improve crop yield, plant growth-promoting bacteria were tested on hydroponically grown lettuce (Lactuca sativa) plants. From our bacterial endophyte library, we found one bacterium, Pseudomonas psychrotolerans IALR632, that is promising in promoting lettuce growth in multiple hydroponic systems. When Green Oakleaf lettuce seeds were inoculated with IALR632 during germination, IALR632 significantly increased lateral root development by 164%. When germinated seedlings were inoculated with IALR632 and then transplanted to different hydroponic systems, shoot and root fresh weights of Green Oakleaf increased by 55.3% and 17.2% in a nutrient film technique (NFT) system in the greenhouse, 13.5% and 13.8% in an indoor vertical NFT system, and 15.3% and 13.6% in a deep water cultivation (DWC) system, respectively. IALR632 also significantly increased shoot fresh weights of Rex by 33.9%, Red Oakleaf by 21.0%, Red Sweet Crisp by 15.2%, and Nancy by 29.9%, as well as Red Rosie by 8.6% (no significant difference). Inoculation of IALR632-GFP and subsequent analysis by confocal microscopy demonstrated the endophytic nature and translocation from roots to shoots. The results indicate that P. psychrotolerans IALR632 has a potential application in hydroponically grown lettuce plants.