Eco friendly management of onion basal rot disease using Trichoderma viride and AM fungi

Abstract

Four fungal and two bacterial antagonists were screened for their antifungal activity against onion basal rot pathogen Fusarium oxysporumf sp.cepae in vitro. Among these, the fungal antagonist T.viride was highly effective in reducing the mycelial growth and conidial germination by 77.5 and 81.5 per cent respectively. The combined application of T.viride and AM fungi was more effective in suppressing the basal rot incidence than the application of T.viride or AM fungi alone in pot culture under Green house. The results of the four field trials revealed that the coinoculation of T.viride (bulb treatment @ 10g/ kg + soil application @2.5kg/ ha) and AM fungi (soil application @12.5kg/ha) was promising in combating the basal rot incidence and increasing the bulb yield of onion.