Antifungal activity of Bacillus and Pseudomonas strains cultivated in the presence of iron, zinc and copper salts

Abstract

Over 70-80% of plant diseases are caused by pathogenic fungi that have adverse effects on both crop growth and yield, becoming an important bottleneck for the development of sustainable agriculture. Some of the most common plant-pathogenic fungi belong to the genera Alternaria, Fusarium, Botrytis, etc. which attack a wide variety of plants causing black spots, gray mold, soft rot, responsible for causing considerable crop loss even post-harvest. The identification and selection of bacterial strains with the potential to increase the synthesis of bioactive compounds by enhancing antifungal activity on phytopathogens was focused on the need to develop innovative and sustainable biotechnological solutions for agriculture and the data obtained are presented in this article.