ATTEMPTS TO ASSESS THE ROLE OF SOME BIOCONTROL AGENTS IN REDUCING CORN FUNGAL INFECTION AND IMPROVING ITS GROWTH PARAMETERS

Fungal and bacterial plant diseases cause major losses in agricultural activities and food production through damaging plants and/or crops. This study was conducted to evaluate the antagonistic effect of some fungal, bacterial and yeast biocontrol agents (BA) (Trichoderma harzianum, Pseudomonas fluorescens, mycorrhizae Glomus sp. and Saccharomyces serivisae ) and a mixture of them against damage of corn (Zea mays L.) caused by three isolates of Fusarium moniliforme. In the current experiment, significant reduction in the disease incidence such as number of infected plants and ears was observed in BA treatments in comparison with untreated control accompanied with enhancement of growth features such as plant height and weight, root length and weight and average weight of ears. The obtained results revealed that applying of Mycorrhizae Glomus sp. and Sacchromyces serivisae (Yeast) together showed significant superior effect to reduce diseases incidence and improving growth parameters followed by the BA mixture then Trichoderma harzianum and Pseudomonas fluorescens, respectively. Treatments increased peroxidase and polyphenol oxidase in corn leaves. Mycorrhizae was the most effective in this respect.