Use of Trichoderma in Biological Control of Collar Rot of Soybean and Chickpea

An in vitro and field experiments for two consecutive years were conducted at Bangladesh Institute of Nuclear Agriculture, Mymensingh, aiming to investigate the efficacy of Trichoderma harzianum against Sclerotium rolfsii causing collar rot disease of soybean and chickpea. In in vitro the antagonistic activity of T. harzianum against S. rolfsii was observed through dual culture. In field experiment Trichoderma was applied as soil treatment and seed treatment. The percent inhibition of S. rolfsii induced by T. harzianum was found upto 78.9% in in vitro. The maximum reduction of collar rot disease incidence over control was 82.4% in soybean and 77.6% in chickpea which was recorded in the plot where T. harzianum was applied in the soil. The highest seed germination: 86.3% in soybean and 84.8% in chickpea, maximum fresh shoot weight: 94.5 g plant-1 in soybean, 62.5 g plant-1 in chickpea, maximum fresh root weight: 10.7 g plant-1 in soybean, 9.3 g plant-1 in chickpea and the highest yield: 2830 kg ha-1 in soybean, 1836 kg ha-1 in chickpea were obtained by the application of Trichoderma in soil. The study indicated that the tested isolate of T. harzianum had potential in controlling collar rot disease of soybean and chickpea. For the reduction of collar rot incidence application of T. harzianum in soil was found more effective than seed treatment.