Abstract
Disease and insect pests are major limiting factors for crop production worldwide.
Farmers are often heavily reliant on synthetic biochemicals and fertilisers to mitigate
the negative impact of pests and disease and to increase crop yield. However, the
extensive use of chemicals has led to environmental concerns due to contamination of
soil and water, human health issues, disturbance of macro and microorganisms balance
and the development of resistance by both insects and fungal pathogens. Use of
biological control agents including endophytic microorganisms is an alternative
control option to combat these problems. Many endophytes are able to provide their
host with beneficial traits such as resistance against insect-pests and pathogens and
enhance crop performance under abiotic stresses. Although beneficial microorganisms
of brassica crops have been discovered, endophytes of wild brassicas, particularly
those associated with the seed, have been ignored. In this study, we screened seed of
various brassica species with a worldwide distribution and isolated 131 bacterial and
two fungal species. To our knowledge, this is the first study to screen the fungal and bacterial
endophytes of wild brassica species associated with the seeds and demonstrate their
beneficial characteristic when inoculated to brassica crops.--Shortened abstract
Date
2019
Rights
The Author
Publisher
Massey University
Description
Embargoed until 1 May 2021
