VIEW ARTICLE

Ecology and Epidemiology

Antagonistic Activity of An Isolate of Candida Species to Ice Nucleation-Active Pseudomonas syringae. Ki- Chung Kim, Professor, Department of Agricultural Biology, College of Agriculture, Chonnam National University, Kwangju 500-757, Seoul, Korea; Young-Cheol Kim, and Baik-Ho Cho. Graduate student, and associate professor, respectively, Department of Agricultural Biology, College of Agriculture, Chonnam National University, Kwangju 500-757, Seoul, Korea. Phytopathology 79:275-277. Accepted for publication 10 August 1988. Copyright 1989 The American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-79-275.

An epiphytic yeast, an isolate of Candida sp. that was not active in ice nucleation, reduced the frost damage of corn (Zea mays L.) seedlings incited by an ice nucleation-active (INA) isolate of Pseudomonas syringae. The effectiveness of the antagonist in reducing frost damage increased with increasing antagonist cell density. When corn seedlings were sprayed with a mixed suspension of antagonist and INA bacteria in nutrient broth, both of the organisms multiplied together for 2 days and then maintained their populations nearly constant until 4 days after application. The presence of the antagonist did not affect the growth of coexisting INA bacteria on corn leaves. Nevertheless, frost damage incited by INA bacteria was greatly reduced by the antagonist even in the case of plants to which the antagonist had been applied 2 days after application of INA bacteria.