The aim of this study was to isolate, characterise and identify the bacterial strains responsible for soft rot in agricultural potato soils from different localities in the greater Casablanca-Settat region. From the 26 soil samples collected, we isolated 18 bacterial strains capable of causing soft rot symptoms on healthy potato slices purchased from the local market. Morphological identification revealed that the strains included both Gram-positive (11 isolates) and Gram-negative (seven isolates) bacilli. All strains were catalase-positive and oxidase-negative. BLASTn alignment analysis identified five strains as Enterobacter ludwigii, six as Bacillus safensis, five as Bacillus tropicus, as well as one isolate identified as Klebsiella variicola and another as Proteus mirabilis. These isolates have been recorded in the GenBank database. This study is the first in Morocco to reveal new pectinolytic bacterial species (five to six species per genus), belonging to three newly identified bacterial genera causing potato soft rot, as well as two additional genera represented by Proteus mirabilis and Klebsiella variicola.
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