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. 2025 Jun;56(2):1203-1218.
doi: 10.1007/s42770-025-01647-4. Epub 2025 Mar 7.

Biocontrol of Agroathelia rolfsii associated with stem rot disease in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) and growth promotion using compost-associated actinobacteria

Fakher Ayed  1   2   3 , Rania Aydi Ben Abdallah  4 , Saoussen Ben Khedher  5   6 , Hayfa Jabnoun-Khiareddine  3 , Mejda Daami-Remadi  3
Affiliations

Biocontrol of Agroathelia rolfsii associated with stem rot disease in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) and growth promotion using compost-associated actinobacteria

Fakher Ayed et al. Braz J Microbiol. 2025 Jun.

Abstract

Stem rot disease (Agroathelia rolfsii) biocontrol is an environmentally safe alternative that could potentially decrease disease severity and limit plant and yield losses. In the present investigation, 11 actinomycetes isolates, recovered from disease-suppressive composts, were tested as whole cell suspensions and cell-free culture filtrates for their ability to suppress tomato stem rot and to stimulate plant growth. Five isolates (namely A5-3, A2-4, A3-4, A4-4 and A5-4), applied as cell suspensions, were found to be the most effective in suppressing disease severity by 37.5-56.2% compared to the untreated control and 25-56.2% using their cell-free culture filtrates. The in vitro antifungal activity of isolates tested and their filtrates were estimated at 58.8-88% and 59-91.3% decrease in fungus mycelial growth, respectively. As for their growth-promoting ability, tomato plants treated with A5-3, A2-4, A3-4, A4-4 and A5-4 isolates were 20-89.1% and 10.3-79% higher than A. rolfsii-inoculated and pathogen-free controls, respectively. Inoculated and uninoculated plants treated with filtrates showed significant increments in their growth parameters by 18.2-91.9% and 15.3-93.4% over control, respectively. The most bioactive isolates against target pathogen were affiliated, based on 16 S rDNA gene sequencing, to Streptomyces, Saccharomonospora and Micromonospora genera. All these isolates were shown able to produce indole-3-acetic acid. Streptomyces sp. (A5-3) and Streptomyces sp. (A5-4) displayed chitinase, protease and lipase activities together with phosphate solubilization and nitrogen-fixing abilities. Streptomyces sp. (A5-3) displayed the greatest amylolytic activity and ability to solubilize zinc and to produce siderophores and hydrogen cyanide. This investigation demonstrated that actinomycetes recovered from disease-suppressive composts can be explored as potential sources of bio-active compounds with antifungal and bio-fertilizing abilities useful for the improvement of tomato growth and health.

Keywords: Agroathelia rolfsii; Actinomycetes; Biocontrol; Characterization; Stem rot severity; Tomato growth.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Ethical responsibility: All authors confirm that the manuscript is original and has not been submitted or published elsewhere in any form or language (partially or in full). This work is an expansion of previous work published in Journal of Phytopathology and Pest Management ( http://ppmj.net/index.php/ppmj/article/view/202 ). Financial interests: The authors have no financial or proprietary interests in any material discussed in this article. Competing interests: The authors have no competing interests to declare that are relevant to the content of this article.

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