Systemic nematicidal activity and biocontrol efficacy of Bacillus firmus against the root-knot nematode Meloidogyne incognita.

A strain of marine bacterium Bacillus firmus YBf-10 with nematicidal activity was originally isolated by our group. In the present study, the systemic nematicidal activity and biocontrol efficacy in pot experiment of B. firmus YBf-10 were investigated. Our results showed that YBf-10 exhibits systemic nematicidal activity against Meloidogyne incognita, including lethal activity, inhibition of egg hatch and motility. Pot experiment suggested that soil drenching with YBf-10 efficiently reduced damage of M. incognita to tomato plants, such as reduction of galls, egg masses on roots, and final nematode population in soil; and moreover, YBf-10 significantly promoted host plant growth. In addition, our results also indicated that the systemic nematicidal activity is likely attributed to the secondary metabolites produced by YBf-10. The obtained results of the current study confirmed that B. firmus YBf-10 is a promising nematicidal agent, and has great potential in plant-parasitic nematicidal management.