Bio-Prospecting of Antagonistic Agent for Controlling of Ralstonia Solanacearum Phylotype 4, Causal Agent for Blood Disease of Banana

Quek, Chuan Rui (2018) Bio-Prospecting of Antagonistic Agent for Controlling of Ralstonia Solanacearum Phylotype 4, Causal Agent for Blood Disease of Banana. Final Year Project (Bachelor), Tunku Abdul Rahman University College.

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Abstract

Banana blood disease (BDB) have been plaguing the banana industry for a few years now, seriously affecting the production of the food product. The causal pathogen has been recently confirmed as Ralstonia solanacearum bacterium phylotype IV. The soil sampling was conducted at a banana plantation managed by United Plantations located at Teluk Intan, Perak. This project aims to isolate and identify the potential biocontrol agents for controlling of BDB pathogen (R. solanacearum), in a bid to find management options for blood disease of banana. The targeted biocontrol agents from Pseudomonas sp., Bacillus sp. and Actinomycetes groups were isolated from the soil using selective isolation agar and heat-shock isolation method. A total of 1.425x108 CFU/g Pseudomonas sp., 5x104 CFU/g Bacillus sp., and 1.75x106 CFU/g Actinomycetes have been successfully isolated. The BDB pathogen has been successfully isolated from an infected banana plant obtained from Bukit Rambai, Melaka. The isolation and purification of BDB pathogen was aided by Kelman’s tetrazolium chloride (TZC) medium. The isolated BDB was then subjected to various challenges tests with the potential antagonistic bacteria isolated from the soil. The challenge tests included are Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion test and agar well diffusion test. Majority of the isolates showed negative antagonistic effect on the BDB with the exception of one bacterium isolate. The isolate and BDB sample were subjected to identification via molecular means and there was no positive identification. Although the results yielded are nonconclusive, more frequent and representative samplings could be conducted in future research coupled with more defined agar media.