Salam Ali ⁽¹⁾*, Ibrahim Alabid ⁽¹⁾, and Imad Ismail ⁽¹⁾

(1). Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agricultural Engineering, Lattakia University, Lattakia, Syria.

(*Corresponding author: Salam Ali. E-mail: Salamkhali43@gmail.com).

Received:30/09/2024                      Accepted: 24/02/2025

Abstract

    The study was conducted to study the effect of treating pepper plants with two isolates of plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR): Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus sp. strain (ABC3, cbs123) on infection with Tomato brown rugose fruit virus (ToBRFV), and their effect on increasing the activity of peroxidase enzyme and chlorophyll pigments in pepper plants infected with the virus under protected cultivation conditions. The results showed an increase in the activity of peroxidase enzyme on the two studied pepper hybrids (Dallas – Bravo), and an increase in the amount of total chlorophyll in the treated plants. The two studied bacterial strains increased the activity of peroxidase enzyme after 15 days of infection with the virus at different rates, whether in the presence or absence of the virus. In the Dallas hybrid plants treated with the bacterial isolate Bacillus sp. The infection with the virus increased by about 10.9%, while when treated with the bacterial isolate Bacillus sp. and the infection with the virus increased by about 17.6%, and when treated with a mixture of Bacillus subtilis and Bacillus sp. and the infection with the virus increased by about 16.2%. The activity of the peroxidase enzyme also increased after 45 days of infection in all treatments, and the bacterial strain Bacillus sp. played the greatest role in this increase, whether in the presence or absence of the virus, while the isolate Bacillus subtilis was better than the isolate Bacillus sp. strain (ABC3, cbs123) in increasing the amount of total chlorophyll. In the Dallas hybrid plants when treated with the bacterial isolate Bacillus subtilis and infection with the virus, the increase increased by about 65.5%, while when treated with the bacterial isolate Bacillus sp. The infection with the virus increased by about 33.80%, and for the Bravo hybrid when treated with the bacterial isolate Bacillus subtilis and infection with the virus, the increase was about 42%, while when treated with the bacterial isolate Bacillus sp. and infection with the virus, the increase was about 52.92%.

 Keywords: PGPR, Bacillus, ToBRFV, pepper plant, peroxidase enzyme, total chlorophyll amount.

 Full paper in Arabic: PDF