Multi-strain co-cultures surpass blends for broad spectrum biological control of maladies of potatoes in storage

Abstract Pseudomonas fluorescens strains S11:P:12, P22:Y:05, and S22:T:04 and Enterobacter cloacae strain S11:T:07 have been documented to suppress four important storage potato maladies – dry rot, late blight, pink rot, and sprouting. This research investigates the efficacy and consistency of strain mixtures produced by co-culturing strains together in one vessel or by blending them together after separate cultivations in pure cultures. Pure and co-cultures were produced in flask or fermentor cultures, viable cell concentrations were assessed using a nutrient-based selective plating method to identify and enumerate strains, and the efficacy of treatments was assessed with respect to dry rot, pink rot, late blight or sprout suppression. Experiments were designed to analyze dry rot suppression versus all strain combinations and the combination method (co-culture or blend). Results of a two-way analysis of variance of disease with strain composition and combination method showed that significantly better dr...