Antagonistic activities of various Trichoderma spp. against the isolates of Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. ciceri

Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is one of the most important pulse crops grown in the Indian subcontinent and known to cope with the protein demand of the major vegetarian population of our country. Besides its significance, the crop faces prodigious ignorance due to a range of biotic and abiotic stresses. However, Fusarium wilt caused by F. oxysporum f. sp. ciceri is one of the significant catastrophes to chickpea cultivation in every Indian state. The present study explored the potential of some indigenous Trichoderma isolates against two isolates of Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. ciceri viz., FOCUP1 (Uttar Pradesh) and FOCRJ1 (Rajasthan). Interestingly, all the tested Trichoderma isolates significantly inhibited the radial growth of both Fusarium isolates. However, more inhibition of indigenous Fusarium isolates (FOCUP1) (ranged between 71.85 to 80.37%) was recorded against all the tested Trichoderma isolates when compared to nonindigenous isolate, i.e., FOCRJ1 (ranged between 55.19 to 67.41%). Among all the tested isolates of Trichoderma spp., the highest inhibition in FOCUP1 was exhibited by T. viride (80.00%), followed by T. hamatum (77.78 %). However, in the case of FOCRJ1, T. hamatum (67.41%) was superior to other tested Trichoderma isolates, followed by T. viride (62.96%). This in-vitro study gave a clue to further exploitation of indigenous bioagents to mitigate losses incurred by this pathogen at a large scale.