In vitro Screening and Characterizing the Most Promising Antagonistc Microorganism as Biocontrol Agent(s) Against Colletotrichum kahawae Kebede Asfaw 1 , Temam Husein 2 , Amare Ayalew 2 , Mashilla Dejene 2 and Samuel Sahile 3* 1 Jimma Plant Health Clinic, Jimma, Ethiopia 2 School of Plant Sciences, Haramaya University, Dire Dawa, Ethiopia 3 University of Gondar College of Natural & Computatonal Sciences, Gondar, Ethiopia * Corresponding author: Samuel Sahile, University of Gondar College of Natural & Computatonal Sciences, Gondar, Ethiopia, Tel: +251 0 913227148; E-mail: hanasahile@yahoo.com Received date: December 25, 2017; Accepted date: December 30, 2017; Published date: January 10, 2018 Copyright: © 2018 Asfaw K, et al. This is an open-access artcle distributed under the terms of the Creatve Commons Atributon License, which permits unrestricted use, distributon, and reproducton in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Citaton: Asfaw K, Husein T, Ayalew A, Dejene M, Sahile S (2018) In vitro Screening and Characterizing the Most Promising Antagonistc Microorganism as Biocontrol Agent(s) Against Colletotrichum kahawae. Eur Exp Biol Vol. 8 No. 1:1. Abstract Cofee berry disease (CBD) caused by Colletotrichum kahawae causes yield loss of more than 50% if not controlled with the appropriate fungicides or/and resistant cultvars. This study was aimed to screen indigenous cofee- associated microorganisms for their inherent antagonistc potental. From a total of 4323 microorganisms isolates tested, over 3% exhibited remarkable inhibiton against C. kahawae. 13 bacterial isolate showed maximum inhibiton of mycelial growth against the fungal pathogen tested. Among the yeast and fungal isolate 11 and 9 islates were most antagonistc to C. kahawae respectvely. Twenty four isolates produced antbiosis, 5 isolates showed micoparacitc actvity and 4 islates produced enzyme. The result indicated the species richness of indigenous cofee in Ethiopia which can be explored for their benefcial applicaton as biological control. The in vitro results provide the frst evidence of an antagonistc efect of cofee associated microorganisms against the CBD and potental of all bacterial, yeast and fungal groups for biological control of CBD. Keywords: Cofea arabica; Colletotrichum kahawae; Antagonist; antbiotc; Siderophores; PGPR Introducton Ethiopia is the origin for Arabica cofee (Cofea arabica L.) and cofee is the major agricultural export product. Cofee is grown by smallholders under various kinds of shade trees [1,2]. African cofee farmers are currently facing many difcultes, e.g. yield losses, due to serious fungal diseases [3-5]. Cofee berry disease (CBD) caused by Colletotrichum kahawae is one of the major constraints of Cofea arabica producton in Africa [6]. The disease is confned in the African high lands, where there is high humidity and low temperature [7]. It causes yield loss of more than 50% if not controlled with the appropriate fungicides or/and resistant cultvars [8]. Currently, no appropriate control measures are in place against this cofee pathogen. The high cost of pestcides, the appearance of fungicide-resistant pathogens and other social and health-related impacts of conventonal agriculture on the environment have increased interest in agricultural sustainability and biodiversity [9]. Thus, millions of cofee farmers in developing countries are facing problems not only with low cofee prices but also a growing interest in organically-grown cofee. The combinaton of these maters necessitates eco-friendly control methods, e.g. biological controls, which have been studied as an alternatve or complementary approach to physical and chemical disease control measures for over several decades [10]. Current developments in sustainability involve a ratonal exploitaton of microbial actvites afectng plant development. Among the plant growth-promotng rhizobacteria (PGPR), Pseudomonas and Bacillus spp. in partcular have been utlized widely in biocontrol methods in low input agricultural producton systems [11]. Antagonism towards plant pathogenic fungi involves a diverse array of mechanisms such as the producton of antbiotcs, siderophores, lytc (fungal cell wall degrading) enzymes and hydrogen cyanide (HCN), competton for nutrients and parasitsm, as well as emission of potent antfungal volatle organic compounds [12-17] are produced by a diverse array of microorganisms and vary widely in their overall structure, but most of them contain hydroxamate or catecholate groups (Neilands). Litle is known about microorganisms associated with Cofea arabica regarding their antagonistc efect against cofee berry diseases in Ethiopia. However, reports have revealed close associatons of useful microorganisms with Cofea arabica including Bacillus, Burkholderia, Pseudomonas, members of the Enterobacteriaceae and others against cofee wilt disease [18,19]. Research Article iMedPub Journals http://www.imedpub.com/ DOI: 10.21767/2248-9215.100042 European Journal of Experimental Biology ISSN 2248-9215 Vol.8 No.1:1 2018 © Under License of Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License | This article is available from: http://www.imedpub.com/european-journal-of-experimental- biology/ 1