Trichoderma: Defence army against soil borne fungi

Soil borne fungal pathogens are responsible for severe disease in vegetable production leading to substantial economic damage including yield loss and decreased quality of plant product.Disease management using synthetic fungicide is helpful to minimize the crop yield loss but its unscientific long term use led to development of fungicide resistance, new disease outbreaks and reduction in population of beneficial soil microorganisms.The increasing concerns regarding environmental and soil health necessitate the use of biocontrol methods, strategies and approaches for plant disease management.Trichoderma species are successful bio control agent which operates by triggering resistance responses, cross protection, systemic acquired resistance (SAR) and Induce systemic resistance (ISR).It also have ability to produce cell wall-degrading enzymes and antibiotics that helps in inducing plant resistance against various economically important soil borne fungi.The present review article highlight the current status of Trichoderma, its mechanism and effectiveness against various soil borne fungi.