Evaluation of Clonostachys rosea for Control of Plant-Parasitic Nematodes in Soil and in Roots of Carrot and Wheat

Abstract

Biological control is a promising approach to reduce plant diseases caused by nematodes. We tested the effect of the fungus Clonostachys rosea strain IK726 inoculation on nematode community composition in a naturally nematode infested soil in a pot experiment, and the effect of C. rosea on plant health. The numbers of plant-parasitic nematode genera extracted from soil and plant roots decreased by 40 to 73% when C. rosea was applied, while genera of nonparasitic nematodes were not affected. Soil inoculation of C. rosea increased fresh shoot weight and shoot length of wheat plants by 20 and 24%, respectively, while only shoot dry weight increased by 48% in carrots. Light microscopy of in vitro C. rosea-nematode interactions did not reveal evidence of direct parasitism. However, culture filtrates of C. rosea growing in potato dextrose broth, malt extract broth and synthetic nutrient broth exhibited toxicity toward nematodes and immobilized 57, 62, and 100% of the nematodes, respectively, within 48 h. This study demonstrates that C. rosea can control plant-parasitic nematodes and thereby improve plant growth. The most likely mechanism responsible for the antagonism is antibiosis through production of nematicidal compounds, rather than direct parasitism.

Functional analysis of polyketide synthase genes in the biocontrol fungus Clonostachys rosea

“…The ascomycete fungus C. rosea (teleomorph name Bionectria ochroleuca ) 13 is an efficient biocontrol agent (BCA) against numerous plant pathogenic fungi 14 – 16 , against oomycete 17 and plasmodiophorid 18 plant pathogens and even against plant parasitic nematodes 19 . This broad activity against a wide taxonomic range of plant pathogens suggests that interference competition by means of secretion of broad spectrum antibiotic compounds may contribute to the biocontrol activity of C. rosea 20 .…”

Biocontrol potential of grapevine endophytes against grapevine trunk pathogens

“…In the case of C. rosea CoS3/4.24, a yellowish halo around the antagonist colony was present. Antibiosis was previously described for this species (Iqbal et al 2017), but not all strains of the species show antibiotic production (Moraga- Suazo, 2016). Further studies should be performed with the C. rosea isolates as this might have important applications in agro-industrial areas (Karlsson et al 2015).…”

Comparative evolutionary histories of fungal proteases reveal gene gains in the mycoparasitic and nematode-parasitic fungus Clonostachys rosea

“…Because of its mycoparasitic and nematode-parasitic lifestyle, certain strains of C. rosea can control both fungal [ 86 ] and nematode [ 87 ] diseases on crop plants. Although C. rosea proteases are implicated in parasitism of the fungal plant pathogen H. solani [ 39 ] as well as in nematode-parasitism [ 40 , 82 ], no comprehensive analysis of the protease gene content in C. rosea is currently available.…”