IN VITRO EVALUATION OF DIFFERENT STRAINS OF Trichoderma harzianum AS BIOCONTROL AGENTS OF CHILLI

Chilli is an important vegetable and spice crop worldwide and one of the most important vegetables in India. The chief constituent of chilli, Capsaicin has antioxidant, antibacterial and anti-cancerous properties. Rhizoctonia solani that causes damping off disease of seedlings as well as root and stem rot in young transplants, is a major soil borne pathogen of chilli. In the present study, Effective isolates of Trichoderma harzianum were screend out against Rhizoctonia solani, Fusarium oxysporum and Alternaria aternata. Ten isolates of T. harzianum were tested against Rhizoctonia solani, Fusarium oxysporum and Alternaria aternata on PDA by dual culture technique. All the tested isolates of T. harzianum, showed more than 50% inhibition of the radial growth of the test pathogens Rhizoctonia solani, Fusarium oxysporum and Alternaria aterna over control. Isolate Th1 of T. harzianum showed the highest 77.04% reduction of the radial growth of Fusarium oxysporum and isolate Th1 showed the highest 87.04% reduction of the radial growth of Rhizoctonia solani and isolate Th1 showed the minimum 68.03% reduction on the radial growth of Alternaria aterna. In three cases test pathogens tested, isolate Th1 of T. harzianum showed the highest reduction of the radial growth.