Authors: N Mishra S S Khan S Krishna Sundari
Publish Date: 2016/06/23
Volume: 32, Issue: 8, Pages: 130-
Abstract
Species of Trichoderma are widely recognized for their biocontrol abilities but seldom studied collectively for their plant growth promotion abiotic stress tolerance and bioremediation properties Our study is a concentrated effort to establish the potential of native isolate Trichoderma harzianum KSNM T103 to tolerate biotic root pathogens and abiotic stresses high salt 100–1000 mM heavy metal chromium nickel and zinc 1–10 mM pesticides malathion 100–600 ppm carbofuran 100–600 ppb along with its ability to support plant growth In vitro growth promotion assays with T103 treated Vigna radiata Vigna mungo and Hordeum vulgare confirmed ‘nonspecies specific’ growth promotion effects of T103 At lower metal concentration T103 treatment was found to completely negate the impact of metal stress 60 increase in radicle length RL with no significant decrease in germination G Even at 10 mM metal T103 inoculation gave 80 increase in G and 50 increase in RL In vitro experiments confirmed high metal reduction capacity 47 Cr 35 Ni and 42 Zn of T103 at concentrations as high as 4 mM At maximum residual concentrations of malathion 440 ppm and carbofuran 100 ppb reported in agricultural soils T103 maintained 80 and 100 survivability respectively T103 treatment has improved G and RL in all three hosts challenged with pesticide Isolate T103 was found to effectively suppress growth of three major root pathogens Macrophomina phaseolina 6583 followed by Sclerotium rolfsii 1933 and Fusarium oxysporum 1918 In the light of these observations native T harzianum T103 seems to be a competent biocontrol agent for tropical agricultural soils contaminated with residual pesticides and heavy metalsThis work was supported by Department of Biotechnology DBT Govt of India for the research under grant no BT/PR11470/AGR/21/276/2008 dated 14/09/2010 Authors thankfully acknowledge CRIDA for providing us with fungal plant pathogen cultures The authors thankfully acknowledge the support of Jaypee Institute of Information Technology JIIT NOIDA for providing all necessary support to conduct this study
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