Diversity of Fluorescent Pseudomonas in Potato Crops of the Cundiboyacense Region and its in vitro Antagonic Activity against Rhizoctonia solani

Fluorescent Pseudomonas are one of the most important benefic bacteria of the rizhosphere. It is because they can control some soil borne phytopatogen agents as a result of their antagonistic capacity. There are few works about the composition and diversity of fluorescent Pseudomonas in tropical countries. In this work we studied the composition of fluorescent Pseudomonas form different potato crops located at the Cundiboyacense región between 2100 and 3200 mosl, which is the most important area of potato production in Colombia. This study also assesses the effect of some crop practices variables on rizosphere bacteria richness and diversity. Finally, it was determined the antagonistic capacity of some Pseudomonas fluorescens isolates against Rhizoctonia solani. A total of 45 rhizosphere samples were taken from 15 potato fields. To isolate the Pseudomonas it was used king B medium modified by us. Our results showed that this modified medium consistently allowed a more efficient recovery of the fluorescent Pseudomonas than the media reported in the literature. 80.7% and 82.7% of the fluorescent Pseudomonas isolated from the rizosphere and rizoplane respectively were Pseudomonas fluorescens. It suggest a low fluorescent pseudomonas diversity. Our work also denotes an effect of the maize-potato crop rotation strategy on the amount of the fluorescent Pseudomonas isolated from the rizosphere. These results may have importance in designing appropriate strategies for bio-controlling soil borne phytopathogens. In tropical countries like Colombia, this knowledge might help to improve crop yields. Finally it was found native isolates with antagonistic activity against Rhizoctonia solani in the bioassays in vitro, such results if not assure an efficient control of the pathogen in field conditions, may give an idea of the potentiality of P.fluorescens to be applied as bacterial community, strains or derived products of them