Bacterial leaf blight (BLB) caused by Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo) is a destructive rice disease in tropical Asian countries. The conventional approaches to control BLB, such as cultural practices and using chemical pesticides remain ineffective, whereas bacteriophage biocontrol is considered as a promising strategy. The current study investigated the capacity of phage L522 to control BLB in rice. First, phage L522 showed high tolerance over a wide range of temperatures (4, 20, 30, 37, and 50) and pH (4–11) and was also less affected by ultraviolet (UV)-A and UV-B light. Second, the inhibition time of the phage on the growth of Xoo in tryptone soya broth was about 45 h in the in vitro test. More interestingly, in the in vivo trial on rice plants, the efficacy of phage treatment at a concentration of approximately 109 PFU/mL was equivalent to that of a popular commercial pesticide. This study indicated that phage L522 should be a suitable and environmentally-friendly alternative to control BLB, especially applicable to soil and climatic conditions in Vietnam.
Key words: bacteriophage; rice; bacterial leaf blight; biocontrol.
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