Implications of rhizosphere competence of Trichoderma harzianum

Seed treatment with conidia of rhizosphere-competent mutants of Trichoderma harzianum reduced the incidence of preemergence damping-off of barley, cucumber, pea, radish, and tomato induced by Pythium ultimum. Wild-type parents of these mutants were less effective in control. When rhizosphere-competent mutants were applied to seed or when a peat-bran preparation was added to soil, the resulting plants produced significantly higher fruit weight and higher dry weights than those treated with rhizosphere-incompetent wild types and controls. Seed treatment with mutants increased the incidence of emergence and resultant plant growth was significantly (P = 0.05) better than when mutant strains were added to soil in peat–bran. There was, however, no significant (P = 0.05) difference between the two types of application of the wild types. When cucumber seeds, treated with a T. harzianum rhizosphere-competent mutant (T-95) or its parent wild type (WT), were sown in raw soil kept under constant matric potential with no additional water added, the roots grew 8 cm in 8 days. Untreated seeds produced roots 7 cm long. Fewer colony-forming units of P. ultimum per milligram were isolated from rhizosphere soil of the T-95 treated seedlings than in the untreated controls and those treated with WT. Pythium ultimum was not detected in the 8th cm (farthest from seed) root segment of T-95 treated seeds, whereas the last centimetre of root segment from untreated and WT-treated seeds yielded 3000 colony-forming units/g rhizosphere soil. Seed treatment with rhizosphere-competent mutants of T. harzianum is an effective delivery system to achieve biocontrol and increase growth response.