ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Sustain. Food Syst.
Sec. Crop Biology and Sustainability
Volume 9 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fsufs.2025.1581883
This article is part of the Research TopicInnovative Solutions For Next-Generation FertilizersView all 14 articles
Isolation and characterization of Bacillus velezensis: Investigating Its Mechanisms as an Effective Biocontrol Agent against Verticillium Wilt in Eggplants
Provisionally accepted
Arif Ali Khattak1
Iman Sabah Abd Alamer2
Ali Athafah Tomah3
Rasha Abed Hussein4
Mohamed Soliman Elsheikh5
Muhammad Afzal1,6*- 1College of Agriculture, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
- 2Department of Biology, College of science, University of Basrah, Iraq, Basrah, Iraq
- 3Plant Protection, College of Agriculture, University of Misan, AL-amarah 62001, Iraq, AL-amarah 62001, Iraq
- 4Al-Manara College For Medical Sciences, Maysan, Maysan, Iraq
- 5Department of Botany and Microbiology, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
- 6Shaoguan University, Shaoguan, Guangdong, China
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Eggplant production in China is significantly impacted by Verticillium wilt caused by Verticillium dahliae, leading to substantial yield losses. This study was designed to investigate potential of rhizobacterial species for the biocontrol of Verticillium wilt in eggplant. Among the 42 bacterial isolates tested, strain ARF4 demonstrated the strongest antagonistic effect by inhibiting V. dahliae growth by 84.49%, in addition to showing antifungal properties against four other plant pathogens. We found the strain ARF4 is closely related to Bacillus velezensis with high bootstrap values (100) through a phylogenetic tree based on 16S, rpoB, and gyrA gene sequences. The ARF4 produce important antifungal compounds such as chitinase, protease, β-glucosidase, and lipopeptide bacillomycin D, which contribute to its antifungal properties. The extracted lipopeptide of the ARF4 exhibited strong inhibition of conidial germination in V. dahliae. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) showed that hyphae treated with the extracted lipopeptide exhibited considerable deformation. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) results revealed lysis of the cell walls and plasma membrane, a decreased inner cytoplasmic matrix and number of mitochondria, and disintegration of internal organelles. Greenhouse trials demonstrated that eggplants treated with strain ARF4 experienced a significant disease severity reduction of 68.45%. This study offers B. velezensis ARF4 biological approach to Verticillium wilt control in eggplants as an alternative to chemical fungicides and contributes to sustainable agriculture practices.
Keywords: biocontrol, phytopathogen, Bacteria, green technology, sustainable agriculture
Received: 23 Feb 2025; Accepted: 02 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Khattak, Abd Alamer, Tomah, Hussein, Elsheikh and Afzal. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Muhammad Afzal, College of Agriculture, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, 510642, Guangdong, China
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