Evaluation of bacillus megaterium strain AB4 as a potential biocontrol agent of alternaria japonica, a mycopathogen of Brassica oleracea var. italica.

Alternaria japonica causes annual losses of up to 25 % of the world broccoli crops, for this reason this research focused on the development of biopreparations containing Bacillus megaterium to prevent the outbreak of this disease caused by Alternaria japonica in the crop of Brassica oleracea var. italica. During the laboratory phase two types of biopreparations were evaluated, the first biopreparation was obtained by liquid fermentation composed of 40 g.L⁻¹ of fava bean flour and 5 g.L⁻¹ of ground brown sugar. This showed a maximum cell growth of 3.8 × 10⁸ CFU. mL⁻¹; while the second biopreparation was obtained by solid fermentation composed of wheat bran and it achieved a maximum cell growth of 4.7 × 10⁹ CFU. g⁻¹. In the fieldwork phase the aforementioned biopreparations were applied in an open-field crop. At the end of the cultivation period, the degree of the disease in leaves and in the inflorescences was measured and through the statistical analysis, a significant difference was evidenced (α = 0.05). On the broccoli leaves the disease index values ​​do not exceed 15.56 % and the disease index for postharvest florets was around 38 %. The evaluated variables showed a statistical similarity with the chemical treatment, thus determining the effective effect of the biopreparations.