Growth and development of different Trichoderma species under saline stress conditions

Saline stress was created by supplementing PDA medium with different concentrations of NaCl viz. 5, 10, 15 and 20 g/L. Observations on different levels of salinity on mycelial characteristics, fresh and dry weight and sporulation suggested that at salinity level of 15g/L, all isolates conferred good disperse of spores on petri plates. All isolates produced typical green spores at 5g/L except in BI(Len)056, where it produced yellowish green spores. All isolates attained optimum colony growth ranging from 8.2 to 9.0 cm after five days of incubation at high salt concentration. Maximum biomass was recorded in isolate MS: Mar016, isolates UP: Kus008 and MS: Mar016 produced maximum spores, which was measured in terms of cfu count. Present finding of Trichoderma's compatibility with different salt concentrations will be a major step in production and release of superior biopesticide in the saline affected areas for increasing crop yield.