Effects of Xylem-Colonizing Bacillus spp. on Verticillium Wilt in Maples. T. J. Hall, Tennessee Technological University, School of Agriculture, Cookeville 38505. L. R. Schreiber, USDA-ARS, Nursery Crops Research Laboratory, Delaware, OH 43015; and Curt Leben, Department of Plant Pathology, Ohio State University and Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center, Wooster 44691. Plant Dis. 70: 521-524. Accepted for publication 27 December 1985. This article is in the public domain and not copyrightable. It may be freely reprinted with customary crediting of the source. The American Phytopathological Society, 1986. DOI: 10.1094/PD-70-521.

Bacillus spp. originally isolated from healthy maple stem tissue were introduced into stem wounds in silver or Norway maple seedlings. After 3 or 14 days, stems were inoculated with a conidial suspension of Verticillium dahliae. Several Bacillus subtilis isolates reduced the percentage of silver maple stems colonized by V. dahliae. One isolate reduced the percentage of Norway maple stems colonized by the fungus. Rifampicin-resistant isolates of B. subtilis were distributed upward from wounds in the lower stems of silver maples.