Efficacy and evolution of Bacillus velezensis BV02-based biofungicide in integrated coffee disease management

Abstract: Coffee is one of the most important export crops in Brazilian agribusiness. The
phytopatogen Hemileia vastatrix is the main disease responsible for significant economic
damage and occurs in all coffee-producing regions. Among the management measures,
biological control agents such as Bacillus sp. have a number of mechanisms of action with effect against phytopathogens. We evaluate the microbiological fungicide application Bio-Imune® (Bacillus velezensis BV02) in the integrated management of foliar diseases in coffee crops in two different fields in 2022 season. Our objective was to compare its performance with a standard commercial application program containing fluazinam, azoxystrobin + cyproconazole and copper hydroxide, as well as to document its impact on coffee crop productivity. The efficiency of the treatments in reducing Area Under the Disease Progress Curve of cercosporiosis severity reached 81 %. Likewise, the efficiency of these treatments to rust disease is up to 89 %. In addition, all treatments increased the yield of the coffee crop, with the best results observed in treatments 7 and 8, wich recieved only Bio-Imune® in the final spray. Therefore, the use of Bio-Imune® for the management of coffee foliar diseases can be a more sustainable alternative within the practices of integrated management of diseases in coffee.