Bacillus Consortium Promotes the Growth of Pea Plants and Protects Against Fusarium Wilt Disease

ABSTRACT Fusarium wilt disease is a significant challenge to the tomato crop, causing economic losses worldwide. The unwise use of chemical fungicides has raised concerns about food safety. Hence, biocontrol is a sustainable strategy for controlling Fusarium wilt disease. This study aimed to promote growth and manage Fusarium wilt disease in pea plants using two Bacillus strains ( Bacillus aryabhattai strain Z‐48 and Bacillus cereus strain Z‐53) either alone or in a synthetic consortium. The application of the consortium of both Bacillus strains provided maximum protection against Fusarium wilt disease, showing the biocontrol effect of 54.3%. Under Fusarium disease stress, the consortium application increased shoot length, root length and dry biomass up to 88.6%, 31.1%, and 86.7% respectively, compared with the pathogen alone treatment. Likewise, the application of the Bacillus consortium significantly increased the time‐course accumulation of defence‐related enzymes, and photosynthetic pigments in Pea plants. Non‐targeted metabolite profiling indicated extensive remodulations in the production of a wide array of metabolites upon application of the consortium (Z‐48 + Z‐53). The multivariate analysis showed strong relationships between treatments and different metabolites, including phenylalanine, ursolic acid, and glycerol‐3‐phosphocholine. The study demonstrates that this Bacillus consortium can be effectively used to develop a biocontrol‐based formulation for farming applications.