Morphological and molecular identification of Trichoderma isolates with biocontrol potential against Phytophthora blight in red pepper

Ten species of Trichoderma antagonistic to Phytophthora capsici in red pepper were characterised based on morphological features and molecular tools. Since the fungal isolates could not be differentiated adequately by cultural and morphological methods alone, molecular methods were also used. Molecular characterization was done by amplifying and analysing the sequences of Internal Transcribed spacer gene 1and 2 (ITS) and translation elongation factor 1-alpha encoding gene (tef1). Identifications were made using the BLAST interface in TrichOKEY and TrichoBLAST (http://www.isth.info). The phylogenetic analyses of the Trichoderma isolates were carried out based on the ITS and tef1 sequences. Among 10 Trichoderma isolates Th9, Th10, Th19, Tv10 and Tv115 were identified as T. harzianum. Isolates Th16, Tv30 and Tvs7 were identified as T. asperellum and isolates Tvs5 and Tvs8 were identified as T. virens.