Control Biologico Fusarium Sp.

Crop Protection 29 (2010) 1452e1459

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Crop Protection
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/cropro

Mycoparasitic Trichoderma viride as a biocontrol agent against Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. adzuki and Pythium arrhenomanes and as a growth promoter of soybean
Rojan P. John a, R.D. Tyagi a, *, D. Prévost b, Satinder K. Brar a, Stéphan Pouleur b,R.Y. Surampalli c
a b c

INRS-ETE, Universite du Quebec, 490, Rue de la Couronne, Quebec G1K 9A9, Canada Agriculture et Agroalimentaire Canada, Sainte-Foy, Quebec G1V 2J3, Canada USEPA, P.O. Box-17-2141, Kansas City, KS 66117, USA

a r t i c l e i n f o
Article history: Received 18 May 2010 Received in revised form 23 July 2010 Accepted 2 August 2010 Keywords: Trichoderma viride SoybeanBiocontrol agent Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. adzuki Pythium arrhenomanes Growth promoter

a b s t r a c t
Trichoderma viride was proved as an effective biocontrol agent against two fungal pathogens, Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. adzuki and Pythium arrhenomanes, infecting soybean. During an in vitro biocontrol test, Trichoderma showed mycoparasitism and destructive control against the tested fungalpathogens. Both the pathogens significantly influence the germination and P. arrhenomanes had a severe effect (only 5% germination). The root system of the soybean plant was poorly developed due to the infection and it exerted a negative influence on the nodulation and further growth phases of the plant. During pot assay along with biocontrol activity, Trichoderma showed growth promoting action on thesoybean plant. Trichoderma enhanced growth of shoot and root systems and fruit yield after 12 weeks of growth. Pythium and Fusarium infected plants treated with Trichoderma had w194% and 141% more height than pathogens alone. The fruit yield treated with Trichoderma was w66 per plant whereas the yield was only 41 for a control plant. The plants infected with Pythium and Fusarium and treated withTrichoderma had fruit yields of 43 and 53 respectively and those were 5 and 1.6 times higher than plants infected with pathogens. Ó 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction Soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr. cv. Lotus, an early cultivar, Centre of reference in agriculture and agri-food, Quebec, Canada) is one of the most important crops (Herridge et al., 2008; Prévost et al., 2010) and asource of vegetable protein and oil. Soybean represents half of the global legume crop area and 68% of global production and fixes 16.4 Tg N/year, it represents more than three fourths of the N fixed by the crop legumes (Herridge et al., 2008). Fungal diseases are a main obstacle to obtain a high yield of soya during commercial cultivation and generally some chemical fungicides are applied tocontrol these diseases. Application of chemical fungicide has been replaced by biocontrol agents because of the emergence of fungicide-resistant strains and public concerns regarding the health and environmental impacts of these chemicals. During the past few decades, several potential biocontrol organisms have been isolated, characterized and commercialized, and thus, biocontrol of plant diseases hasreceived more consideration in plant disease control (Shali et al., 2010). Trichoderma spp. are considered as potential
* Corresponding author. Tel.: þ1 418 654 2617; fax: þ1 418 654 2600. E-mail address: tyagi@ete.inrs.ca (R.D. Tyagi). 0261-2194/$ e see front matter Ó 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.cropro.2010.08.004

biocontrol and growth promoting agents for many cropplants (Verma et al., 2007; Bai et al., 2008; Savazzini et al., 2009). The competition with pathogens, parasitism and the production of antifungal compounds are the most important mechanisms in biocontrol activity (Verma et al., 2007; Savazzini et al., 2009). Trichoderma populations can be established relatively easily in different types of soil and can continue to persist at detectable levels...