The use of chemical pesticides to control the occurrence of mycotoxigenic fungi in crops has led to environmental and human health issues, driving the agriculture sector to a more sustainable system. Biocontrol agents such as Bacillus strains and their antimicrobial metabolites have been proposed as alternatives to chemical pesticides. In the present work, a broth obtained from a commercial product containing Bacillus subtilis QST 713 was tested for its ability to inhibit the growth of mycotoxigenic fungi as well as reduce their mycotoxin production. Mass spectrometry analysis of Bacillus subtilis broth allowed to detect the presence of 14 different lipopeptides, belonging to the iturin, fengycin, and surfactin families, already known for their antifungal properties. Bacillus subtilis broth demonstrated to be a useful tool to inhibit the growth of some of the most important mycotoxigenic fungi such as Aspergillus flavus, Fusarium verticillioides, Fusarium graminearum, Aspergillus carbonarius, and Alternaria alternata. In addition, cell-free Bacillus subtilis broth provided the most promising results against the growth of Fusarium graminearum and Alternaria alternata, where the radial growth was reduced up to 86% with respect to the untreated test. With regard to the mycotoxin reduction, raw Bacillus subtilis broth completely inhibited the production of aflatoxin B1, deoxynivalenol, zearalenone, and tenuazonic acid. Cell-free broth provided promising inhibitory properties toward all of the target mycotoxins, even if the results were less promising than the corresponding raw broth. In conclusion, this work showed that a commercial Bacillus subtilis, characterized by the presence of different lipopeptides, was able to reduce the growth of the main mycotoxigenic fungi and inhibit the production of related mycotoxins.
Keywords: Bacillus subtilis QST 713; lipopeptides; mycotoxigenic fungi; mycotoxin.