Archivio Journal of Plant Pathology

Abstract:

Six essential plant micronutrients, copper (Cu), iron (Fe), zinc (ZN), manganese (MN), molybdenum (Mo) and boron (B) salt compounds, were investigated for their potential antibacterial activity against a group of 32 Xanthomonas citri subsp. citri (Xcc) isolates, as representative of the Iranian population of bacterial of citrus canker disease agents, and the sensitivity patterns of the isolates were characterized. For all tested compounds, a significant antibacterial activity against representative Xcc strains was determined. Bacterial growth was severely inhibited by Cu, Fe, Zn, Mn and Mo at 1/2 MIC, MIC and MBC concentrations, whereas B had only a moderate to slight impact. Among the salt compounds, Zn had the lowest MIC (0.6-1.25 mM) and MBC (2.5 mM). The highest MIC and MBC values were obtained for Mo at the dose of 30-40 mM and 40-50 mM, respectively. The results showed that 62.5% of the tested bacterial isolates were less susceptible to Fe, Zn, Mn and Mo and more susceptible to Cu and B. Nevertheless, only 37.5% of them showed a high degree of susceptibility to most of the compounds.