Construction of Microbial Consortium FireFighter-C for Controlling Fire Blight Disease and Its Control Effect

Fire blight is a bacterial disease caused by Erwinia amylovora that infects plants of the family Rosaceae, causing economic losses in apple- and pear-cultivating areas. In Korea, copper-based compounds and antibioticbased control agents are used to control fire blight disease. However, the development of new control agents is necessary owing to the fact that preserving agricultural environments is vital for sustainable agriculture. In this study, we developed a microbial consortium, FireFighter-C, by selecting four highly competitive microorganisms against seven sugar sources present in flowers, which are the initial routes of fire blight pathogen infection. Although individual microorganisms had no direct antagonistic effect on fire blight, disease control (89.75% improvement compared to the control group) was confirmed when the microbial consortium was applied to flowers. This study could potentially serve as an important reference for the development of microbial consortia in various fields as well as plant disease control.