Developing Novel Biologicals with Multiple Modes of Action (BM) to Combat the EarlyBlight Disease in Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum), Potato (Solanum tuberosum), and BellPepper (Capsicum annuum)
Early blight, a fungal disease, leads to annual crop losses of up to 79% in tomato, potato, and bell pepper crops. Current treatment requires repeated application of chemical fungicides, resulting in fungicidal resistance. Previous studies have identified microorganisms that enhance plant growth or prevent the growth of early blight spores. This study aims to develop a biological fungicide with multiple modes of action (BM) that can be used in fungicide rotation. The average area under the disease progress curve (AUDPC) values were calculated to quantify the disease progression; formulation 2, formulation 3, and formulation 3 produced the lowest AUDPC value for the tomato, potato, and bell pepper crops, respectively. All the treatments were compared with the current industry standard used to treat early blight, and analysis of variance (ANOVA) tests, with 95% confidence intervals (CIs), of the disease severity were conducted to determine the efficacy of the treatments.