Unexpected histological findings of lesions diagnosed in the adrenal region in a series of 420 patients submitted to adrenal surgery. Review of our experience.

Taro leaf blight, caused by Phytophthora colocasiae, is the most destructive disease of taro (Colocasia esculenta L. Schott), resulting in severe yield losses and posing a major constraint to sustainable cultivation. The present study investigated the biocontrol potential and plant growth-promoting attributes of 24 antagonistic bacterial endophytes isolated from healthy taro plants. Antagonism by diffusible metabolites exhibited stronger antagonistic activity than volatile metabolites, with mycelial growth inhibition ranging from 19.77 to 76.29%, and Bacillus subtilis CTCRI KV9 showing the highest inhibitory activity. Most isolates exhibited multiple plant growth-promoting traits, including phosphate and potassium solubilization, nitrogen fixation, siderophore production, indole-3-acetic acid production, hydrogen cyanide production and extracellular hydrolytic enzyme secretion. IAA production among the isolates ranged from 1.14 to 14.42 µg/ml. 16 S rRNA gene sequencing identified four promising strains: Bacillus subtilis CTCRI KV9, Bacillus subtilis CTCRI KV10, Bacillus subtilis CTCRI UL3, and Bacillus stercoris CTCRI KV6. Detached leaf and greenhouse experiments confirmed the effectiveness of the selected isolates in suppressing taro leaf blight. Soil application of Bacillus subtilis CTCRI KV9 resulted in the greatest disease reduction with disease severity index 4.89%, compared with 76% in the uninoculated control. In addition to disease suppression, bacterial inoculation significantly enhanced plant growth, as evidenced by increased plant height, leaf area, root biomass, and tuber yield over the uninoculated control. These findings demonstrate that the selected bacterial endophytes employ multiple complementary mechanisms to suppress P. colocasiae while simultaneously promoting plant growth, highlighting their potential as eco-friendly bioinoculants for the sustainable management of taro leaf blight. To our knowledge, this is the first report describing Bacillus stercoris as a multifunctional endophytic biocontrol and plant growth-promoting bacterium associated with taro.