Effectiveness of Bacillus subtilis ANT01 and Rhizobium sp. 11B on the control of fusarium wilt in pineapple ( Ananas comosus )

Pineapple ( ) is commonly infected by , causal agent of the fusarium wilt disease. Conventionally, growers use synthetic fungicides to control the disease, which lead to environmental pollution, hazardous effects on non-target organisms and risks on human health. The aim of this work was to assess the effectiveness of ANT01 and sp. 11B to control fusarium wilt on pineapple plants. Four treatments derived from a complete factorial design were tested under field conditions. Treatments composed of ANT01 and the combination ANT01- sp. 11B decreased disease severity by 94.4% and 86.1%, respectively. On the other hand, the treatment prepared with sp. 11B alone showed a reduction of 75.0%. Size of leaves and nutritional condition (SPAD units) of the biocontrol agents-treated plants showed no statistical differences. Moreover, ANT01 decreased by 46% the initial soil population of , while sp. 11B, ANT01 plus sp. 11B and control, showed a population reduction of 12.5%, 24.2% and 23.0%, respectively. These results make evident the potential of ANT01 as biocontrol agent of the pathogen under field conditions.