Trichoderma Suppresses Pathogenic Fusarium Causing Tomato Wilt in Bangladesh

Aims: Antagonism to Fusarium root rot caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici (ACI-FOL7 and ACI-FOL8) by Trichoderma spp. was investigated.

Study Design: The study was designed to understand antagonistic properties of locally collected Trichoderma spp. against Fusarium in vitro.

Place and Duration of Study: The study was done at the laboratories of Advanced Seed Research & Biotech Centre and the study was carried out for 2 years.

Methodology: Trichoderma spp. was collected from soil and Fusarium was collected from symptomatic tomato plant roots. Pathogenicity assay was done with Fusarium and degree of antagonism study was carried out through dual culture in vitro. Apart from morphological characterization, DNA was extracted from both fungus and confirmation of species was done through fungal specific Internal Transcribed Specer regions.

Results: The Percent Inhibition of Mycelial Growth (PIMG) recorded higher in T2 (96.7%) followed by T1 (95.5%) and T3 (95.3%). The highest PIMG was recorded in ACI-FOL7 and the lowest in ACI-FOL8 (84.4%). Among the Trichoderma species (T1, T2 and T3) significant antagonism difference were observed in ACI-FOL8, whereas ACI-FOL7 was highly suppressed by the Trichoderma species.

Conclusion: These results reveal that the native Trichoderma spp. might have biocontrol potentiality for the suppression of FOL in Bangladesh.