Microbial communities of vegetable seeds and biocontrol microbes for seed treatment

Abstract

Thirty-one species of vegetable seeds from Kyrgyzstan’s State Register were analysed for mycological and bacterial composition using various methods, from simple visual to molecular. The modified roll-towel method simultaneously assesses the degree of contamination and seed germination. Screening in agar medium allows analysis of species on the outer and inner surfaces of vegetable seeds that are not detected using the roll-towel method. As a result of the phytopathological examination, 15 fungal and three bacterial species were found. Direct DNA extraction and amplification of the universal 16S rRNA gene of diseased seeds was used to identify the plant pathogenic bacteria, which included Pseudomonas syringae, Pseudomonas savastanoi, Pseudomonas cerasi, Pectobacterium carotovorum, Xanthomonas oryzae, Erwinia sp. and others from the Proteobacteria phylum. For the coating of vegetable seeds, S. alfalfae CI-4 was selected. This strain had a beneficial double effect on the tested vegetable seeds at 1 × 103 spores mL-1.