Abstract
BackgroundFusarium crown rot is one of the major diseases that cause significant yield losses of wheat, and Trichoderma strains were known as an effective biocontrol agent.Main bodyThe aim of this study was to evaluate the potential of coating durum wheat seeds of the cultivar “Karim” with 3 different Tunisian strains of Trichoderma sp. (S.INAT, SIO1, SIO2) and the Trichoderma-based commercial product Trianum-T22 on seed germination, seedling growth, and plant defense response against the pathogen Fusarium culmorum. The strains were identified using molecular tools based on sequencing ITS region of ribosomal DNA. The results confirmed at 99% of homology that the strains were T. harzianum. Under controlled conditions, the coating seeds were released with 400 μl of spore suspension at 107 spores/ml. The seed coating with Trianum-P, and S.INAT showed the highest seed germination rates ranging from 85 to 90% while S.IO1 and S.IO2 presented the lowest germination rates with 66 and 68%, respectively. At 20 days post-infection (dpi) with F. culmorum, the treated plants with S.INAT and Trianum-T22 reduced the disease incidence by 53.59 and 51.79%, respectively than the control. Besides, S.INAT induced two-folds the phenolic compounds level compared to infected control. Further, the peroxidase activity was enhanced by 50% in average since 10 dpi in plants treated with S.INAT and SIO2 than the control.ConclusionThe results suggest that seed coating with T. harzianum S.INAT was a promising tool for crop production and protection under field conditions due to both direct antagonist activity and the indirect growth promotion. This strain seems to induce the systemic resistance of plants against foot crown rot disease.
Highlights
Fusarium crown rot is one of the major diseases that cause significant yield losses of wheat, and Trichoderma strains were known as an effective biocontrol agent.Main body: The aim of this study was to evaluate the potential of coating durum wheat seeds of the cultivar “Karim” with 3 different Tunisian strains of Trichoderma sp. (S.INAT, SIO1, SIO2) and the Trichoderma-based commercial product Trianum-T22 on seed germination, seedling growth, and plant defense response against the pathogen Fusarium culmorum
The results suggest that seed coating with T. harzianum S.INAT was a promising tool for crop production and protection under field conditions due to both direct antagonist activity and the indirect growth promotion
The identification was further ascertained by molecular analysis based on the sequencing of the internal transcribed spacer rDNA (ITS) region of Evaluation of the antagonistic activity of Trichoderma strains on F. culmorum mycelium In the dual-culture experiment (Fig. 2), the three Trichoderma strains significantly hampered the mycelial growth of F. culmorum; they exhibited different inhibition rates against it
Summary
Fusarium crown rot is one of the major diseases that cause significant yield losses of wheat, and Trichoderma strains were known as an effective biocontrol agent.Main body: The aim of this study was to evaluate the potential of coating durum wheat seeds of the cultivar “Karim” with 3 different Tunisian strains of Trichoderma sp. (S.INAT, SIO1, SIO2) and the Trichoderma-based commercial product Trianum-T22 on seed germination, seedling growth, and plant defense response against the pathogen Fusarium culmorum. Fusarium crown rot is one of the major diseases that cause significant yield losses of wheat, and Trichoderma strains were known as an effective biocontrol agent. Main body: The aim of this study was to evaluate the potential of coating durum wheat seeds of the cultivar “Karim” with 3 different Tunisian strains of Trichoderma sp. (S.INAT, SIO1, SIO2) and the Trichoderma-based commercial product Trianum-T22 on seed germination, seedling growth, and plant defense response against the pathogen Fusarium culmorum. At 20 days post-infection (dpi) with F. culmorum, the treated plants with S.INAT and Trianum-T22 reduced the disease incidence by 53.59 and 51.79%, respectively than the control. One of the major problems in agricultural production in the world is soil borne diseases that cause significant economic losses in yield and quality of many important crops (El-Sobky et al 2019). Sm.), F. pseudograminearum, F. verticillioides, F. avenaceum, Microdochium majus, and M. nivale leading to important yield losses up to 44% (Chekali et al 2011).
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