Stem rot is a serious disease in Jerusalem artichoke (JA). To reduce the impact of this disease on yield and quality farmers often use fungicides, but this control method can be expensive and leave chemical residues. The objective of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of two biological control agents, Trichoderma harzianum T9 and Bacillus firmus BSR032 for control of Sclerotium rolfsii under field conditions. Four accessions of JA (HEL246, HEL65, JA47, and JA12) were treated or notreated with T. harzianum T9 and B. firmus BSR032 in a 4 × 2 × 2 factorial experiment in two fields (environments), one unfertilized and one fertilized. Plants were inoculated with S. rolfsii and disease was evaluated at 3-day intervals for 46 days. T. harzianum T9 and B. firmus BSR032 reduced disease incidence by 48% and 49%, respectively, whereas T. harzianum T9 + B. firmus BSR032 reduced disease incidence by 37%. The efficacy of T. harzianum T9 and B. firmus BSR032 for control of S. rolfsii was dependent on environments and genotypes. The expression of host plant resistance also depended on the environment. However, HEL246 showed consistently low disease incidence and severity index in both environments (fertilized and unfertilized). Individually, T. harzianum T9, B. firmus BSR032, or host plant resistance control stem rot caused by S. rolfsii in JA. However, no combination of these treatments provided more effective control than each alone.
Keywords: Bacillus firmus; Trichoderma harzianum; antagonism; antibiosis; genetic resistance.