Yeast a potential bio-agent: future for plant growth and postharvest disease management for sustainable agriculture - Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology

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• Yeast is also used as potential biocontrol agents against many different diseases of fruits and vegetables and plants (Droby et al. 2002; Coelho et al. 2007; Pimenta et al. 2010).

• Yeast can produce some plant growth-promoting enzymes, including indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), phosphate solubilization and reduced growth of plant-pathogen by releasing cell wall degrading enzymes (Fu et al. 2016).

• In the postharvest disease control property, yeasts use some specific property such as mycoparasitism, release some lytic enzyme and compete for nutrients and space, altering the pH to reduce the growth of the pathogen on fruit surface (Pimenta et al. 2009; Lima et al. 2015; Droby et al. 2016). Among all different types of property, competition for the nutrient and space by yeast is the major factor which suppresses the growth of pathogen on fruits and vegetables (Table 4; Fig. 3).

• Commercial synthesis of a potential biocontrol agent needs to maintain efficacy and improve shelf life for long-term preservation. Scientist developed liquid and solid bioformulations of yeast as potential strains or their secondary metabolites for post-harvest disease management in agriculture (Melin et al. 2006). Both solid and liquid bioformulations of yeast have some advantage like solid bioformulation can be stored for a long term without cross contamination without refrigerator, and it can transport easily while in the case of liquid bioformulation, it is cost effective and has more cell count than solid bioformulation (Li and Tian, 2006; Melin et al. 2007).

• Some reports showed that yeast has the ability to maintain agricultural crop health by direct and indirect mechanisms that included the production of indole 3-acetic acid, phosphate solubilization and ammonium production. It inhibits the disease by producing siderophore and pathogen cell-degrading enzymes and reduces other stress by releasing exopolysaccharides (EPSs)

• Mass culturing and bioformulation in solid and liquid yeast consortium are also challenging task for agricultural application. The bioformulation of yeast for postharvest managements has a lot of drawbacks like the reactive oxygen species (ROS), and another metabolic compound decreases the cell density within the carrier.