Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Sep;129(3):712-727.
doi: 10.1111/jam.14657. Epub 2020 Apr 29.

Effectiveness of Trichoderma strains isolated from the rhizosphere of citrus tree to control Alternaria alternata, Colletotrichum gloeosporioides and Penicillium digitatum A21 resistant to pyrimethanil in post-harvest oranges (Citrus sinensis L. (Osbeck))

F V Ferreira  1 , A M Herrmann-Andrade  2 , C D Calabrese  2 , F Bello  3 , D Vázquez  3 , M A Musumeci  1   2
Affiliations

Effectiveness of Trichoderma strains isolated from the rhizosphere of citrus tree to control Alternaria alternata, Colletotrichum gloeosporioides and Penicillium digitatum A21 resistant to pyrimethanil in post-harvest oranges (Citrus sinensis L. (Osbeck))

F V Ferreira et al. J Appl Microbiol. 2020 Sep.

Abstract

Aims: Penicillium digitatum, Alternaria alternata and Colletotrichum gloeosporioides are pathogens responsible for large decays and production losses of citrus. They are commonly controlled by fungicides, whose excessive applications have led to the emergence of resistant P. digitatum strains. Alternative approaches are imperative for sustainable and environmental harmless citrus production, being biological control a promising strategy. The objective was to evaluate the potential of Trichoderma strains native from the rhizosphere of citrus trees to control these pathogens.

Methods and results: Seven strains were isolated and identified as Trichoderma harzianum, T. guizhouense, T. atroviride and T. koningiopsis through morphological and molecular analyses. Five of them showed effective antagonist performance in vitro against the pathogens. The strain T. harzianum IC-30 was the best biological control agent in vivo, obtaining a reduction of rot percentage around 80% after 3 weeks of infection of oranges with P. digitatum A21 (resistant to pyrimethanil). This strain also showed the highest chitinase and glucanase activities.

Conclusions: Trichoderma harzianum IC-30 is an optimal antagonist for the control of green mould spreading and other pathogens in post-harvest citrus fruits.

Significance and impact of the study: The strain combined with supplementary practices could lead to sustainable management of citrus fungal diseases, dispensing with synthetic fungicides.

Keywords: Alternaria alternata; Colletotrichum gloeosporioides; Penicillium digitatum; Trichoderma; biological control; citrus; fungicide; post-harvest oranges.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Adnan, M., Islam, W., Shabbir, A., Khan, K.A., Ghramh, H.A., Huang, Z., Chen, H.Y. and Lu, G.-D. (2019) Plant defense against fungal pathogens by antagonistic fungi with Trichoderma in focus. Microb Pathog 129, 7-18.
    1. Akimitsu, K., Peever, T.L. and Timmer, L. (2003) Molecular, ecological and evolutionary approaches to understanding Alternaria diseases of citrus. Mol Plant Pathol 4, 435-446.
    1. Altschul, S.F., Gish, W., Miller, W., Myers, E.W. and Lipman, D.J. (1990) Basic local alignment search tool. J Mol Biol 215, 403-410.
    1. Baker, P. and Hoodless, R. (1973) Agricultural fungicides: II. Detection and identification of systemic benzimidazole fungicides on citrus fruit. J Chromatogr A 87, 585-588.
    1. Bell, D., Wells, H. and Markham, C. (1982) In vitro antagonism of Trichoderma species against six fungal plant pathogens. Phytopathology 72, 379-382.