Clethodim herbicide (Cle) and three Trichoderma strains (Tri) were applied either alone or in combination (Cle + Tri) for controlling weeds, root knot nematodes (Meloidogyne arenaria) and Rhizoctonia root rot disease (Rhizoctonia solani) as well as for evaluating their effects on total microbial count in the rhizosphere and the number of Rhizobium nodules on roots in two faba bean cultivars cultivated in naturally heavily infested fields. The evaluated characters were very similar for the two tested cultivars (Nubariya 1 and Sakha 3). Treatment with Cle alone highly reduced the fresh and dry matter of tested weeds (Amaranthus viridis, Cynodon dactylon and Cenchrus ciliaris), followed by Cle + Tri and Tri alone. Cle + Tri highly reduced nematode parameters viz. numbers of J2 in soil or roots, females, eggs, galls and egg-masses when compared with each treatment alone. Tri alone caused a great decrease in Rhizoctonia root rot infection, followed by Cle + Tri and Cle alone. Total microbial count and Rhizobium nodules were affected only with Cle treatment. Plant growth parameters (shoot length, shoot fresh and dry weight and numbers of branches and leaves) and yield parameters (fresh pod and dry weight, seed number per pod, seed weight and ash pod weight of plant) were greatly improved for Cle + Tri treatments when compared with either Tri or Cle alone.

Strawberry leaves showing leaf blight symptoms were collected from six different farms in Ismailia and Beheira Governorates in Egypt during the 2020–2021 growing season. Eight bacterial isolates, i.e., Pa₁, Pa₂, Pa₃, Pa₄ (Ismailia farms) and Pa₅, Pa₆, Pa₇ and Pa₈ (Beheira farms) were isolated. A pathogenicity test of bacterial isolates was carried out using detached strawberry leaf technique. All bacterial isolates produced leaf blight disease symptoms. Isolates Pa₂ and Pa₆ showed the highest pathogenic characteristics with clear symptoms on detached strawberry leaves. The phenotypic, biochemical and physiological characters of the highest pathogenic isolates were confirmed by PCR analysis using 16S rRNA gene. The two bacterial isolates were identified as Pantoea ananatis with similarity of 97.05% with accession number MH_127816.1 (isolate Pa₂, Ismailia), while the isolate ( Pa₆, Beheira) with similarity of 97.03% with accession number NR_026045.1. The 16S rDNA sequences were deposited in the GenBank nucleotide databases under accession numbers OM258167 and OM279507, respectively. According to the pathogenicity test, morphological and physiological characteristics as well as molecular data (16S rRNA sequencing analysis), this finding is the first report of P. ananatis as a causal agent of strawberry leaf blight disease in Egypt.