INTERACTIONS BETWEEN THE SOIL-BORNE BACTERIOPHAGE-FO-1 AND PSEUDOMONAS SPP ON SUGAR-BEET ROOTS

The large plaquing (24 mm2) soilborne bacteriophage, Fo-l, did not affect the colonization ability on sugarbeet roots of its host, fluorescent Pseudomonas sp. strain B26. Phage Fo-l did not increase in numbers on sugarbeet roots when seeds were coated with less than 106 CFU (colony forming units) of B26 and when less than 300 PFU (plaque forming units) of phage Fo-l was added per g of soil (dry weight). Above these threshold values, phage replication occurred and up to 2 × 106 PFU per root system could be recovered. © 1990 Federation of European Microbiological Societies.