o:6130 Application of Bacillus spp. in plant protection and growth promotion of cereals en Abstract: The research objective is the application of new bacterial isolates as an alternative to chemical pesticides for controlling plant diseases caused by Fusarium spp., aiming to reduce reliance on conventional interventions, minimize environmental impacts, thus fostering a shift towards environmentally friendly plant disease management strategies. In this study, the effects of four Bacillus spp. (BHC 2.3, BHC 2.4, BHC 4.5, BHC 4.7) isolated from two soil samples on suppressing F. poae, F. proliferatum, F. oxysporum and F. graminearum, as well as their effect on seed germination (wheat, oat and barley) during the fungal infection were determined. Basic chemical analyses of soil samples used for bacterial isolation and plant growth promoting experiments were performed. Antifungal activity of isolates was tested in vitro on PDA medium, seed germination test was performed in Petri dishes on filter paper, while the ability of isolates to promote plant growth under semi-controlled conditions was also tested. Inhibition of mycelial growth of F. poae was 15% to 20% (for isolate BHC 4.7 and BHC 4.5, respectively). Seed germination test indicated the effectiveness of seed inoculation by selected bacterial isolates. In the case of infected seeds, germination percentage was up to 80% (wheat) and up to 90% (barley and oat), without bacterial inoculation. On the other hand, germination percentage for infected seeds inoculated by all four applied isolates was increased (up to 75%). Results of the experiment performed under semi-controlled conditions showed that bacterial isolate BHC 4.5 had the best overall effect on the shoot length of all used cereals. The results of this study indicate the potential of different Bacillus spp. soil isolates for formulating new biofertilizers to be used in plant protection and plant growth promotion of cereals. Bacillus spp., PGP bacteria, seed germination, oat, barley and wheat seedling shoots 1552100 978-99976-816-5-2 2024-11-19T14:05:45.256Z 44 no 46 Marina Jovković Institute of Soil Science 0000-0001-7224-8556 46 Magdalena Knežević Institute of Soil Science 0000-0003-0186-3652 46 Marina Dervišević Institute of Pesticides and Environmental Protection, Belgrade, Serbia 46 Jelena Maksimović Institute of Soil Science 0000-0001-5217-3972 46 Galina Jevđenović University of Belgrade, Faculty of Technology and Metallurgy, Belgrade, Serbia 46 Mira Milinković Institute of Soil Science 0000-0001-5175-6842 46 Aneta Buntić Institute of Soil Science 0000-0002-7068-1804 application/pdf 2003814 https://unilib.phaidrabg.rs/o:6130 no yes 1 70 92000004 71A05 XV International Scientific Agriculture Symposium “AGROSYM 2024”, Jahorina, October 10 - 13, 2024 394 394 2024