The current agriculture is facing various challenges to produce enough food to satisfy the need of the human population consumption without having a negative impact on the environment, human health and ecosystems. The exploitation of bioinoculants has been a crucial alternative for green agriculture. Bioinoculants have two great benefits: to promote plant growth by making essential nutrients available to crops and, to increase the tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses by inducing a long-lasting defense. Certain members of genus Trichoderma have been recognized as biocontrol agents, biofertilizers and stress alleviators for the plants. The use of Trichoderma spp. has also been extended to protect and stimulate growth of horticultural crops. Elucidating the plant signaling events triggered by Trichoderma is of high importance in order to understand the molecular basis involving plant protection against stresses. In this review, the signaling elements of the plants from Trichoderma perception through late defensive responses is discussed. Enhanced understanding how Trichoderma spp. activate defense will lead to improvement in the use of species of this genus to increase crop production with the consequent benefits for human health and care for the environment.
The acceleration of climate change is necessitating the adoption of shifts in farming practices and technology to ensure the sustainability of agricultural production and food security. Because abiotic stresses such as drought and chilling represent major constraints on agricultural productivity worldwide, in this study, the mitigation of such stresses by the fungus Trichoderma asperellum HK703 was evaluated. The fungus was grown on whole grain oats, kaolin and vermiculite for 5 days and then the formulation was mixed with the potting soil to colonize the roots of the plants. The effect of the bioinoculant on tomato under drought or chilling was analyzed in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) plants. Leaf, stem and root succulence, electrolyte leakage, the relative growth rate of plant height, stem thickness and leaf area, as well new leaf emergence and chlorophyll content were determined. The results showed that drought or chilling increased electrolyte leakage and reduced plant growth and development traits and chlorophyll (a,b) content. However, inoculation with T. asperellum eliminated or reduced most of the negative impacts of drought compared to the non-stressed plants, with the exception of chlorophyll b content. Furthermore, inoculation with T. asperellum improved some of the evaluated features in chilling stressed plants but had no effect on plant height or chlorophyll (a,b) content. The results of this study indicate that T. asperellum was more effective in alleviating drought than chilling stress in tomato plants.
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