Plant Responses to Trichoderma spp. and their Tolerance to Abiotic Stresses: A review

Abstract

Trichoderma spp. is known to offer a beneficial relationship with the plants. They are used as inoculants for biocontrol, biofertilization and phytostimulation with their abilities to produces different bio-active compounds and elicitors which interact with roots of the host plant directly increasing plant growth potential and tolerance to various abiotic stresses. With their abilities of mycoparasitism and their antagonistic affect within the plant, they are able to induce defense-related genes and protect the host plant from microbial infection. They are also known to induced systemic resistance in the plant and also induce tolerance against abiotic stresses such as drought and salinity through increase root growth, nutritional uptake and inducing protection against oxidative stress. Recently, the genome of seven Trichoderma species has been sequenced and there is a great prospect in developing transgenic plant which may offer effective tolerance against changing climatic condition. In this review, we provide an updated overview of Trichoderma interaction and their tolerances against various abiotic stresses by different strains of Trichoderma.