Trichoderma: A Biofertilizer and a Bio-Fungicide for Sustainable Crop Production

Abstract

Trichoderma has been studied widely. It has been found to play a major role in agricultural production. Around the world scientists and farmers have taken advantage of this knowledge. It is reported to improve plant growth of many crops such as tomato, lettuce, maize, beans, cabbage sugarcane and many more crops. There are two broad categories where Trichoderma plays a major role which is its use as a biofertilizer as well as a biofungicide. Its use as a biofertilizer has been aggravated by its ability to produce volatile compounds, ability to solubilize phosphates making them available to the plant. Moreover, farmers use it as a biofertilizer because it improves the uptake of macro and micro nutrients by the plant. As a biofungicide, Trichoderma is not to control many pathogens from various crops. This includes the control of pathogens such as Rhizoctonia, Phytophthora, Rhizoctonia, Sclerotinia, Phythium, Fusarium, Sclerotinia species and Galumannomyces. The mechanisms used by Trichoderma as a biofungicide includes, antibiosis, mycoparasitism, competitive advantage in the rhizosphere as well as priming of the crop self-defense mechanisms. The purpose of this book chapter is to highlight the importance of Trichoderma in agriculture as a biofertilizer and biofungicide.

Genetic diversity and antagonistic properties of Trichoderma strains from the crop rhizospheres in southern Rajasthan, India

“…T. atroviride is known to be cosmopolitan in nature but more common in northern temperate regions (Samuels and Hebbar, 2015). Moreover, among strains identi ed in this study, T. afroharzianum, T. asperellum, T. asprelloides, T. atroviride, T. brevicompactum, and T. erinaceum are well-known as biocontrol species (Kubheka and Ziena, 2022;Phoka et al 2020).…”

Genetic diversity and antagonistic properties of Trichoderma strains from the crop rhizospheres in southern Rajasthan, India

“…T. atroviride is known to be cosmopolitan in nature but more common in northern temperate regions 51 . Moreover, among strains identified in this study, T. afroharzianum, T. asperellum, T. asprelloides, T. atroviride, T. brevicompactum, and T. erinaceum are well-known as biocontrol species 52 , 53 .…”

Trichoderma: Population Structure and Genetic Diversity of Species with High Potential for Biocontrol and Biofertilizer Applications

“…Unfortunately, there has been limited commercialization of microbial agricultural products relative to the volume of research on plant-beneficial microbes [53]. The strategy of preferential selection of isolates from species known to have beneficial properties that are also compatible with commercialization is more robust than prior, non-preferential approaches where hundreds to thousands of randomly selected isolates may need to be screened to identify a few strains with desired characteristics [80]. Consistent with this strategy, we propose narrowing the search for BCBF microbes within the increasingly complex genus Trichoderma with over 500 species to a subset of Trichoderma species-T. asperellum, T. asperelloides, T. virens, T. atroviride, T. hamatum-and some species in the Harzianum complex clade, as well as their nearest relatives, based on solid existence in the soil, endophytic characteristics, and prior commercialization.…”