Inhibition of Tea Root Lesion Nematode, Pratylenchus Loosi, by rhizospher bacteria

Root-lesion disease, which is caused by pratylenchus loosi, is one ofthe most important diseases currently impacting iran tea plantations. thisdisease causes great economic crop impacts. northern provinces, which supplymuch of iran’s tea production, have been especially hard impact by rootlesiondisease.the purpose of this study was to biological control the nematodesas one of the main sections and sustainable agriculture in integrated managementsystems, allowing application of bacillus subtilis in the rhizosphere of teaplants infected with the root lesion nematode. in order to study this disease,more than fifty bacterial strains were collected from the rhizosphere area ofthe tea plants and screened for their antagonistic activities on the reduction ofthe density population of the adult and juvenile of pratylenchus loosi under invitrocondition. four selected isolates with nematicidal activities werecharacterized and identified. all belonged to the species bacillus subtilis.death percentage of juveniles ranged from 62.88% to 86.01% for bacillussubtilis (rh-14) and (rh-18), respectively. all bacterial strains isolated in thisstudy had the ability to produce protease. the information obtained wasneeded as the first step toward the search for control strategies of root-lesiondisease in tea plantations in iran.