STUDY OF MICROBIAL DIVERSITY OF FUNGAL COMMUNITIES FROM RHIZOSPHERE AND PHYLOSPHERE OF STRAWBERRY TREATED WITH CHEMICAL AND BIOLOGICAL AGENTS FOR THE CONTROL OF PATHOGENS

The negative impact of long term utilization of pesticides on yields quality, as well as on the human health made scientific community to seek new ways, less expensive and environmental friendly for protecting cultivated plants against pathogens. Biological control agents of microbial origin represented by living selected strains or their metabolites are more and more frequently utilized for protecting horticultural plants intensely consumed by European population, such as strawberry. A green house experiment was designed to compare the structure of rhizospheric and phylospheric microflora of strawberry cv. Senga Sengana, sensible to Botrytis cinerea (the agent of grey mould) treated with systemic and contact fungicides, as well as with four biological control preparations of microbial origin administrated on plant leaves or in the soil. The structure of fungal communities in rhizosphere and phylosphere of strawberry cv. Senga Sengana varied as a function of the nature of control agent and the method of administration. Non significant influence on soil fungal community diversity index and species number was registered after the treatment with chemical and biological control agents, but significant increments were induced in time by control agents as compared with both non-treated control and chemical pesticides. Fungal community structure from strawberry leaves was not significantly influenced by chemical and biological control agents. The most favourable influence on fungal communities registered for bio-control agents E1 and E2 due to