Combination of Trichoderma viride and Pseudomonas fluorescens for the enhanced control of Fusarium wilt disease caused by Fusarium oxysporum infecting Arachis hypogaea L.

Abstract

Fusarium wilt caused by Fusarium oxysporum is a devastating disease of peanut. The fungus causes severe yield loss in groundnut. Combinations of biocontrol agents that are compatible with each other is a viable approach to control the plant disease. The study was conducted to determine the beneficiary aspects of combining different species of Trichoderma and Pseudomonasfluorescens i.e Trichoderma viride+Pseudomonas fluorescens (Tv+Pf), Trichoderma harzianum+Pseudomonas fluorescens (Th+Pf) and Trichoderma viride +Trichoderma harzianum (Tv+Th) to control the Fusarium wilt in biochemicalparameters such as DNA, RNA, Amino nitrogen, phenols, dihydroxy and proline contents of Arachis hypogaea.L. Among the three combinations tested, Trichoderma viride + Pseudomonas fluorescens (1+2%) sprayed leaves provided greater suppression of Fusariumoxysporum by increasing the levels of DNA,RNA,Amino nitrogen contents resulting in the suppression of Fusarium wilt disease of Arachis hypogaea L.Maximum reduction of DNA, RNA, Amino nitrogen was observed in the infected Fusariumoxysporumleaves Phenol, Dihydroxy phenols and proline contents increase sharply in the treated plants treated with (Tv+Pf) as compared to the control plants. At the same time the other two combinations resulted in enhanced control in comparison with individual ones. This present study indicates that specific combination of Trichoderma viride and Pseudomonas fluorescens could have the greater efficacy in the inhibition of pathogen in the biocontrol of Fusarium wilt disease as compared with individual strains.