Differences in microbial activity and microbial populations of peat associated with suppression of damping-off disease caused by Pythium sylvaticum.

ABSTRACT: The microbiological characteristics associated with disease-suppressive peats are unclear. We used a bioassay for Pythium sylvaticum-induced damping-off of cress seedlings to identify conducive and suppressive peats. Microbial activity in unconditioned peats was negatively correlated with the counts of P. sylvaticum at the end of the bioassay. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) profiling and clone library analyses of small-subunit rRNA gene sequences from two suppressive and two conducive peats differed in the bacterial profiles generated and the diversity of sequence populations. There were also significant differences between bacterial sequence populations from suppressive and conducive peats. The frequencies of a number of microbial groups, including the Rhizobium-Agrobacter

SUBMITTER: Hunter PJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1610304 | biostudies-literature | 2006 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature