Bacteriophages to control plant diseases

Publication date: 22/11/2021
Extent: 34 pages

Contributions by: Manoj Choudhary and Mathews Paret, University of Florida and North Florida Research and Education Center, IFAS, University of Florida, USA; Aleksa Obradović, University of Belgrade, Serbia; Katarina Gašić, Institute for Plant Protection and Environment, Serbia; and Jeffrey B. Jones, University of Florida, USA

Chapter synopsis: Crop yield loss due to bacterial plant pathogens need to be reduced to increase global food production demand. Currently available disease management strategies involving copper-based bactericides and antibiotics are losing efficacy due to development of resistance in bacteria. There is long familiar demand of environmentally friendly and sustainable strategies to control bacterial diseases. Bacteriophages are virus that kill target bacteria without affecting another microorganism and environment. Bacteriophage efficiency on phyllosphere is mainly affected by ultraviolet (UV) light. Use of combination of phage, mixture with phage carrier bacteria and optimizing time of application helps in persistence of bacteriophage. There are several bacteriophage products already available in the market to control destructive bacterial diseases. Unlike chemical based traditional control measure, bacteriophage mixture can be easily amended to reduce resistance development in bacteria. In this chapter, the authors discuss from phage isolation to interaction with bacteria and control mechanism of plant diseases.

DOI: 10.19103/AS.2021.0093.18