title: Dispersal of Bacillus subtilis and its effect on strawberry phyllosphere microbiota under open field and protection conditions.
abstract: Using biological control agents (BCAs) is an essential component of integrated pest and diseases management. Despite much research on biocontrol of plant diseases, success in field crops has been limited with most successes being achieved in greenhouse cultivation. This lack of success is often attributed to the complex ecological processes involved in biocontrol. We used next generation sequencing (NGS) technology to study environmental fate of Bacillus subtilis, a widely used BCA, focusing on its dispersal aspect in open field and under protection. The dispersal of B. subtilis was very limited, particularly under protection. The reduction in the BCA population size was relatively small within 8 days; indeed, no overall reduction in the relative abundance was observed under the protected condition. These results suggested that limited dispersal is probably the main reason for its variable (and often low) control efficacy under field conditions. Thus to increase biocontrol efficacy, it is necessary to frequently apply this BCA with the application interval depending on the growth rate of target host tissues. Phyllosphere microbiota differed significantly between plants grown in open field and under protection but were not greatly affected by the introduced BCA.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Crop Stress Biology for Arid Areas, College of Plant Protection, Northwest A&F University, Taicheng Road 3, Yangling 712100, China.|NIAB East Malling Research, East Malling, Kent, ME19 6BJ, UK.
authors.forename: Feng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Crop Stress Biology for Arid Areas, College of Plant Protection, Northwest A&F University, Taicheng Road 3, Yangling 712100, China.
authors.forename: Xiaoping
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: NIAB East Malling Research, East Malling, Kent, ME19 6BJ, UK.
authors.forename: Xiangming
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Xu
mesh_terms: D001412:Bacillus subtilis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D031985:Fragaria / Q000382:microbiology*; D064307:Microbiota / Q000502:physiology*; D010572:Pest Control, Biological