Improved microbial formulations, strains and systems to increase crop yield and control disease.

Today, the American farmer and consumer is looking for nontoxic products to control pests. Biological control and related technologies have the potential to provide these nontoxic solutions for the control of plant pests and to increase plant growth and yield. Among the direct effects of biocontrol agents are: (a) disease control through induced resistance, (b) increased growth of roots and shoots (seed treatments may give season-long effects), (c) increased drought tolerance, (d) increased leaf greenness that probably results in greater photosynthetic rates, and (e) increased yields of a variety of crops. Similarly, rhizobacteria in the genera Pseudomonas and Bacillus have abilities to control plant diseases through multiple mechanisms, including antibiotic production and induced resistance. However, rhizobia (bacteria in the genera Bradyrhizobium, Rhizobium and Sinorhizobium) nodulate legumes and fix nitrogen, via complex plant-microbe interactions.