Isolation endophytic bacteria from elephant grass (pennisetum purpureum schumach) and their potential application

Abstract

In this study, 25 endophytic bacteria were isolated and purified from rhizome, stem and leaf of the elephant grass, which were tested for their biological control properties. The number of living and dead brown plant hoppers were recorded and the mortality rate was analyzed by using Abbott’s formula. The results indicated that three endophytic bacteria including VBL1, VBT1 and VBT5 showed the highest biological control of Nilaparvata lugens at the mortality rate 46.95%, 55.02% and 55.02%, respectively after 8 days of screening and significant difference compared to other isolates (P<0.05). Additionally, insecticidal activity of three bacterial isolates were conducted at different concentrations (10^6, 10^7, 10^8 CFU/ mL) and we found that the highest mortality rate of brown plant hopper was significantly observed at 108 CFU/ mL for VBL1, VBT1 and VBT5 isolates after 10 days trial (P<0.05). Three different isolates VBL1, VBT1 and VBT5 were similar to Bacillus pumilus (VBT1 and VBT5), Bacillus thuringensis (VBL1). This result plays an important role in understanding endophytic bacteria from elephant grass for biological control brown plant hopper in the future.