Enhancement of biocontrol activity of antagonistic Chryseobacterium strain KJ1R5 by adding carbon sources against Phytophthora capsici

Carbon utilization by Chryseobacterium strain KJ1R5 was studied to enhance its biocontrol activity against Phytophthora capsici. Chryseobacterium strain KJ1R5 has previously been shown to control Phytophthora blight of pepper (Capsicum annuum L.). Strain KJ1R5 could utilize carbon sources such as L-arabinose, D-cellobiose, beta-lactose and D-galactose well. P. capsici could utilize D-glucose well, showing the absorbencies ranged from 0.577 to 0.767 at 600nm. When 2% L-arabinose, which could only be utilized by the biocontrol strain KJ1R5, was amended into the bacterial suspension, the efficacy of biological control increased. Among the amendments of various carbon sources into bacterial suspension, L-arabinose and D-(+)-glucose significantly enhanced biological control activity, resulting in a reduction of disease incidence to 6.9%, compared to 21.9% for the strain KJ1R5 alone and 81.3% for P. capsici inoculation alone, indicating that amendment with specific carbon sources could increase the biological control activity.