Diagnosis and bioefficacy of endospheric trichoderma strains of selected medicinal plant on pepper root rot and vascular wilt in Cameroon

Abstract

We attempted to detect and assess the pathogenic potentials of the mycoflora causing wilt and root rot in pepper and to screen the antagonistic potentials of two medicinal plant-derived Trichoderma species (Trichoderma atroviride T32 and Trichoderma sp. N97) against the more pathogenic fungal pathogens. The taxonomic characterization revealed that the Fusarium spp. (56.9%), constituted of F. oxysporium f. sp. capsici (47.1%) and F. solani (9.7%) was the most distributed. Axenic soil infestation with the recovered pathogens successfully induced root rot, leaves chlorosis and root rot, resulting in 52% and 68.92% root stunting in sweet and hot pepper, respectively. The bioagents produced up to 64% inhibition of pathogens’ mycelia growth in confrontation assay, presumably by antibiosis. The ethyl acetate-based extracts from the Trichoderma spp. (10 mg/ml) completely lysed the Fusarium conidia and chlamidospores. The tested bioagents are no doubt promising biological control candidates against pepper wilt and root rot pathogens.