Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

EFFICACY OF TRICHODERM SPP. IN VITRO AGAINST SOIL BORNE FUNGAL PATHOGEN RHIZOCTONIA SOLANI. KUHN.*

D.A. Takale, B.B. Chirmae and S. V. Nalawade

Abstract

Okra is an important crop of many parts of the world. The low yield of this crop may be attributed to various factors. Among all the factors lack of proper disease and pest management is major. A number of soil and seed borne diseases have been reported so far infecting okra. Among these, root rot, seedling rot and damping off disease caused by Macrophomina phaseolina ( Rhizoctina bataticola ), Rhizoctina solani, Fusarium soalni, Pythium butleri and Phytophthora palmivora are considered major problem in okra. These soil borne diseases are very difficult and uneconomical to control with chemicals. Further eradication of soil borne plant pathogen is a challenge because they are soil habitants and they can survive for a longer period in the absence of host through resting spores and structures. In recent years, considerable success has been achived by introducing antagonists to soil. These antagonist antagonize pathogens by antibiosis, competition, mycoparasitism. The use of Trichoderma spp in plant disease management has been well documented (Datta and Das, 1999 ; Babu and seetharaman, 2002; Parakhia and Akbari, 2004; Mahalinga et al. 2004; Sharma et al. 2005 and Jha et al. 2008). In the present study, attempts were made to identify antangonistic effect of four Trichoderm Viz., Trichoderma viride, Trichoderma harzianum , Trichoderma hamatum and Trichoderma koingii against soil borne fungal pathogen Rhizoctonia solani. Kuhn. By adopting dual culture technique.