Bacterial Bioagents and Compost as Two Tools for Management of Eggplant Fusarium Wilt

Isolation trials from the roots of wilted eggplant plants grown at five governorates yielded many fungal isolates. The isolates of the fungus F. oxysporum were selected to test their pathogenicity and Kalubia isolate was the most virulent one. The fungus was virulent to eggplant and no apparent infection was found in case of the other seven tested plants. Therefore, the fungus F. oxysporum named Fusarium oxysporum Schlecht. f.sp. melongenae Fomg. All the tested bioagents and compost tea caused significant reduction to the linear growth of F.o. f.sp. melongenae and the germinated conidiospores compared with control treatment. Adding the two tested bioagents, i.e. B. subtilis and P. fluorescens each alone or in combination to the infested soil with the causal pathogen resulted in significant reduction to eggplant wilt with significant increase to plant height as well as the number of fruits and their weight / plant compared with control treatment. Moreover, amending the soil with compost increased the efficiency of the two bioagents in reducing the disease and increasing the produced fruit yield compared with the clay soil only. In addition, the fungicide Topsin M-70 was the superior treatment in reducing the severity of the disease and increasing plant height and the produced fruit yield followed by the combination of B. subtilis and P. fluorescens. The total phenol compounds were greatly increased in the bacterial treated plants and compost as compared to the control (untreated plants with the bioagents) and those infested with the pathogen only