Root rot of Cnidium officinale Makino causes severe yield losses in cultivation fields and has become one of the most serious diseases affecting this medicinal crop in Korea. The present study was conducted to isolate and identify the causal pathogens...
Root rot of Cnidium officinale Makino causes severe yield losses in cultivation fields and has become one of the most serious diseases affecting this medicinal crop in Korea. The present study was conducted to isolate and identify the causal pathogens of root rot in C. officinale and to develop a biological control method using antagonistic microorganisms. A total of 145 fungal and bacterial isolates were obtained from diseased root tissues collected from cultivation fields in Yeongyang. Based on morphological and molecular characteristics, the major pathogenic isolates were identified as Fusarium solani strain 4- 2-13 and Burkholderia cepacia strain 5-1-3. Pathogenicity was confirmed by root-slice, wound-inoculation, and root-dipping assays, in which both pathogens induced typical symptoms of browning, necrosis, and tissue collapse in C. officinale roots. Fungicide efficacy tests revealed that only a few of the fourteen commercial fungicides tested showed inhibition rates greater than 70 %, indicating limited chemical control efficacy against the pathogen. To explore biological control agents, a total of 334 bacterial isolates were obtained from the rhizosphere soils of C. officinale and screened for antagonistic activity against strain 4-2-13. Among them, strain WS16 exhibited the highest inhibition rate in dual culture assays and was identified as Bacillus subtilis based on 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis. Culture filtrate and root-dip assays confirmed that both the bacterial cells and culture filtrate of WS16 effectively suppressed disease development caused by strain 4-2-13 under moist conditions. In addition, WS16 exhibited in vitro plant growth- promoting (PGP) activities, including protease and siderophore production, suggesting its potential dual role as a biocontrol and PGP bacterium. These findings demonstrate that B. subtilis WS16 is an effective biological control agent against root rot of C. officinale caused by F. solani and provide a basis for the development of eco-friendly disease management strategies in medicinal plant cultivation systems.
Keywords: Cnidium officinale, Fusarium solani, Bacillus subtilis, Biological control, Root rot, Plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria