Morphological and cultural variability of most widely used antagonist, Trichoderma spp.

Abstract

Use of Biological control agents becomes key element of sustainable agriculture which maintain ecological balance and shows antagonism against many major problematic plant diseases of world. Among the all BCAs, Trichoderma species are most extensively studied species in fungal genera. In order to utilize full potential of Trichoderma species as an antagonist against target phytopathogenic fungi in several ways, it becomes essential to have systemic knowledge concerning to the behavior of these fungi. So present study carried out for characterization of an antagonist used for management of predominant soil borne fungal pathogens i.e. Trichoderma spp. These isolates of Trichoderma spp. were subjected to the cultural studies by growing on Potato dextrose agar plates and accordingly sorted them into groups of respective species on basis of macroscopic i.e. colony characters like growth rates, pustule formation, pigmentation showing defined characteristics for that respective species.