Bacillus cereus for Controlling Bacterial Heart Rot in Pineapple var. MD2

Bacterial heart rot (BHR) disease caused by pathogenic bacteria, Dickeya zeae, is one of the destructive diseases of pineapple worldwide. This study explored the potential of Bacillus cereus against the BHR pathogen in vitro and in vivo. The BHR causal pathogen was isolated from symptomatic pineapple plants, demonstrating water-soaked and rotten basal tissues. Biological control agent (BCA) was isolated from asymptomatic pineapple leaves, later confirmed as B. cereus, and subsequently tested for the antagonistic activity against the BHR pathogen via disc diffusion assay and glasshouse trial. B. cereus showed the ability to inhibit the growth of BHR pathogen with 18.10 ± 0.36 mm of inhibition zone in diameter. The ability of B. cereus against the BHR pathogen was further confirmed via the glasshouse trial with five treatments. The results showed that treatments with B. cereus inoculation recorded lower disease severity index of 0.04 ± 0.01 than the positive control treatment with pathogen alone (0.53 ± 0.04). This finding indicated that B. cereus has a great potential as BCA against BHR disease in pineapple var. MD2, however, the effectiveness of this isolate needs to be further tested under actual field conditions.