A Rhizobacterium, Streptomyces albulus Z1-04-02, Displays Antifungal Activity against Sclerotium Rot in Mungbean

Sclerotium rot causes damping-off and stem rot in seedlings and mature mungbeans, which negatively impacts cultivation. The use of a rhizobacterium to control soil-borne diseases is an alternative method to the excess use of synthetic fungicides; therefore, this study aims to screen rhizosphere actinobacteria with fungicidal activities against Sclerotium rolfsii, the pathogen that causes sclerotium rot in mungbeans. Primary screening showed that the Streptomyces sp. isolate Z1-04-02 displayed the highest effectiveness against S. rolfsii in dual culture plates, with a percentage inhibition of 74.28%. An assay containing enzymes that degrade cell walls, of the cell-free culture filtrate (CF) of Z1-04-02, showed that the activities of chitinase and β-1,3-glucanase were 0.0209 and 1.0210 U/mL, respectively, which was significantly higher than that of the control (media alone). The cell-free CF of Z1-04-02, incubated at 37 °C and 100 °C, using agar well diffusion, effectively inhibited the growth of S. rolfsii with inhibition percentages of 37.78% and 27.78%, respectively. Solid-phase microextraction (SPME) was applied to trap volatiles released from Z1-04-02 and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC/MS); volatile antifungal compounds were tentatively identified as bicyclic monoterpene (1R)-(-)-myrtenal. The application of the cell-free CF, and the spore suspension of Z1-04-02, showed disease severity indexes (DSIs) of 12.5% and 8.25%, respectively, which were significantly lower than those showing inoculation by S. rolfsii alone. The identification of this strain by morphology, biochemistry tests, and 16s rDNA sequences revealed that Z1-04-02 was Streptomyces albulus. This finding revealed that S. albulus Z1-04-02 displayed diverse fungicidal activities against S. rolfsii, and it has the potential to act as a biological control agent in terms of inhibiting sclerotium rot in mungbeans.