Efficacy of Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria for Control of Bacterial Wilt of Tomato in Southwestern Nigeria

Screen house and field experiments were conducted in 2003 and 2004 to study the effect of plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (Bioyield and Equity) on Ralstonia solanacearum (race 1 biovar 3) induced bacterial wilt in tomato. In the screen house experiments, Equity, containing more than 40 different microbial strains reduced significantly bacterial wilt incidence when compared with Bioyield, mixture of Bioyield and Equity and untreated control. The commercial formulation Bioyield, Equity and their mixture also significantly promoted plant growth compared to untreated control. However, in the field experiments in 2003 and 2004 at the onset of the disease 4 weeks after transplanting, plants that received Equity recorded significantly lower disease incidence of 1% in 2003 while plants with Bioyield had the lowest disease incidence of 12.3%. During both years, plants treated with plant growth promoting rhizobacteria had less bacterial wilt incidence compared to untreated control. Significantly higher yields were recorded on plants with Equity in 2003 while Bioyield treated plants had significantly higher yields in 2004. The results identified the potential of plant growth promoting rhizobacteria for the control of bacterial wilt disease of tomato in Nigeria.