Antibacterial activity of plant methanolic extracts on a field isolate of Pseudomonas syringae pv tomato from the Casablanca region (Morocco)

A bacterial field isolate recovered from infected to- mato plants in a green-house at Sidi Rehal, a region near Casablanca city (Morocco), was identified as the gammaproteobacterium Pseudomonas syringae pv. to- mato DC3000 strain, the causal agent of bacterial speck. The bacterial isolate was characterized by morphological, biochemical and molecular biological tests, its growth curves carried out in various culture media, and its phytopathogenicity verified by infec- tion tests. A screening was performed to evaluate the antibacterial activity of methanolic extracts of 12 se- lected Moroccan plants against the P. syringae pv. tomato DC3000 isolate, and Agar-well diffusion and Broth microdilution methods were used to determine minimum inhibitory and minimum bactericidal con- centrations. Among the methanolic extracts tested, only those of Nigella sativa, Geranuim robertianum, Aizoon canariense and Rubia peregrine showed clear inhibitory and bactericidal activities, although the highest values were achieved with N. sativa, a plant used in Morocco as a spice, condiment and medicinal treatment