Isolation of Trichoderma Spp. and Determination of Their Antifungal, Biochemical and Physiological Features

Authors: ÇİĞDEM KÜÇÜK, MERİH KIVANÇ

Abstract: It is well known that Trichoderma spp. can be used as a biological control agent. In this study, Trichoderma isolates were obtained from 31 different Eskisehir soil samples. The biocontrol and antifungal effects of these isolates against various plant pathogen fungi were determined. We found that all filtrates of Trichoderma harzianum T9, T10, T15 and T19 were effective against plant pathogens Fusarium culmarum, F. oxysporum, F. moniliforme, Rhizoctonia solani, Sclerotium rolfsii, Gaeumannomyces graminis var. tritici and Drechslera sorokiniana. Among these isolates, T. harzianum T19 showed a wide range of inhibitory effects on plant pathogens. F. oxysporum was found to be the most resistant to the filtrates of the strains above. All isolates showed different behaviors depending on the physiological tests carried out such as growth in the presence inhibitory substrates, pH limits of growth and hydrolysis of gelatin. T. harzianum isolates were grown on the chitin, which is the sole carbon source. The chitinase activity determined from T. harzianum T15 by SDS-PAGE was nearly 73 kDa.

Keywords: Trichoderma harzianum, phytopathogens, physiological and biochemical features, antifungal features, chitinase

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