Survival of Trichoderma viride in chickpea roots and management of fusarium wilt by the bioagent

To determine the effect of T. viride (a commercial strain of MPKV, Rahuri) on growth parameters and wilt incidence an experiment was conducted in pot conditions using four chickpea cultivars viz., WR-315, Digvijay, Vijay and JG-62. Seed treatment of Trichoderma viride significantly enhanced the growth of chickpea by increasing the germination, root and shoot length in the varieties WR-315, Digvijay, Vijay and JG-62. The seed treatment gave promising control of Fusarium wilt under sick soil condition. Lowest disease incidence under sick soil condition was recorded in the variety WR-315 followed by Digvijay. However, T. viride was found ineffective in controlling wilt under sick soil conditions in susceptible variety JG-62. T. viride was also found to be surviving as exo and endophyte in chickpea roots upto 60 days of the crop growth.