Biocontrol of anthracnose in pepper using chitinase, beta-1,3 glucanase, and 2-furancarboxaldehyde produced by Streptomyces cavourensis SY224.

A strain of Streptomyces cavourensis subsp. cavourensis (coded as SY224) antagonistic to Colletotrichum gloeosporioides infecting pepper plants was isolated. SY224 produced lytic enzymes such as chitinase, beta-1,3-glucanase, lipase, and protease in respective assays. To examine for antifungal activity, the treatments amended with the nonsterilized supernatant resulted in the highest growth inhibition rate of about 92.9% and 87.4% at concentrations of 30% and 10%, respectively. However, the sterilized treatments (autoclaved or chloroform treated) gave a lowered but significant inhibitory effect of about 63.4% and 62.6% for the 10% supernatant concentration, and 75.2% and 74.8% for the of 30% supernatant concentration in the PDA agar medium, respectively, indicative of the role of a nonprotein, heat stable compound on the overall effect. This antifungal compound, which inhibited spore germination and altered hyphal morphology, was extracted by EtOAc and purified by ODS, silica gel, Sephadex LH-20 column, and HPLC, where an active fraction was confirmed to be 2-furancarboxaldehyde by GS-CI MS techniques. These results suggested that SY224 had a high potential in the biocontrol of anthracnose in pepper, mainly due to a combined effect of lytic enzymes and a non-protein, heatstable antifungal compound, 2-furancarboxaldehyde.