@article{Velasco-Belalcázar_Hernández-Medina_Gómez-López_Torres-González_Caro-Hernández_2019, title={Endophytic bacteria of Capsicum frutescens antagonistic to Fusarium spp.}, volume={30}, url={https://revistas.ucr.ac.cr/index.php/agromeso/article/view/31760}, DOI={10.15517/am.v30i2.31760}, abstractNote={<p> <strong>Introduction. </strong>In the last decades, there has been an increased on the interest of Tabasco Chilli pepper cultivation in Colombia; however, production limitation has been observed due to phytosanitary problems. Species of the genus <em>Fusarium </em>cause root and stem rots with large losses for farmers; whereby, it is important to find alternatives to vascular wilt management caused by <em>Fusarium </em>spp. <strong>Objective. </strong>The objective of this research was to isolate and characterize endophytic foliar bacteria with <em>in vitro </em>antagonistic potential against <em>Fusarium </em>spp. in Tabasco Chili pepper (<em>Capsicum frutescens</em>) plants. <strong>Materials and methods. </strong>In the period between February 2014 and February 2016, the <em>in vitro </em>antagonistic capacity of 68 bacterial endophytes of leaf tissue <em>C. frutescens</em>, from two municipalities of Valle del Cauca, Colombia, was evaluated. The isolated bacteria were confronted with six pathogenic isolates of <em>Fusarium </em>spp. by dual growth method. <strong>Results. </strong>Fifty of the bacterial isolates showed percentages of inhibition against at least one <em>Fusarium </em>isolate, and of these sixteen had percentages of inhibition above 40 %. The morphology, biochemical profile and molecular characterization allowed to determine that the isolates identified as <em>Bacillus subtillis </em>and <em>Pseudomonas aeruginosa </em>showed inhibition averages between 62 and 89%, high averages compared to those previously reported in other studies. In addition, stand out as new findings of bacteria associated with endophytic plant tissue of <em>C. frutescens</em>, in Valle del Cauca, Colombia, the <em>Enterobacter cloacae</em>, <em>Microbacterium arborescens</em>, and <em>Stenotrophomonas maltophilia </em>species. <strong>Conclusion. </strong>These results constitute a potential source for pathogen management and productivity improvement in tabasco chili pepper in Colombia. </p>}, number={2}, journal={Agronomía Mesoamericana}, author={Velasco-Belalcázar, Martha Lucia and Hernández-Medina, Carlos Alberto and Gómez-López, Eyder Daniel and Torres-González, Celina and Caro-Hernández, Paola Andrea}, year={2019}, month={May}, pages={367–380} }