Endophytic bacteria: prospects and opportunities for the biological control of plant-parasitic nematodes

Abstract

Endophytic bacteria have the capability of colonizing internal host tissues and this makes them a valuable tool to improve crop performance. By systemically colonising roots they have potential to develop into biological control agents of plantparasitic nematodes. This is because i) they are easy to culture in vitro; ii) can be applied as seed treatments; iii) reduce initial root damage; iv) escape microbial competition and also capable of influencing host's response to pathogen attack; v) do not produce any phytotoxic symptoms instead, promote plant growth and; vi) depend on root exudates for multiplication.