Effect of different carbon and nitrogen sources combination in medium for production of biocontrol agent Trichoderma harzianum

Abstract

The increasing usage of chemicals for plant protection in recent years has become a serious problem. One of the possible solutions is use of beneficial microorganisms instead of synthetic fungicides, which will contribute to the protection of the environment and human health. Since the fungi Aspergillus flavus and Fusarium graminearum are the most important pathogens that cause maize diseases and produce mycotoxins, the potential of Trichoderma harzianum for biocontrol of both phytopathogens was examined in this paper. The aim of this paper was to study the influence of different carbon and nitrogen combinations in the medium for T. harzianum production. T. harzianum was cultivated in Erlenmeyer flasks and the effect of cultivation broth against selected maize pathogens was tested using well diffusion method. The results of this study showed that the combination of different carbon and nitrogen sources in the T. harzianum cultivation medium statistically significantly affects the production of Trichoderma cultivation broth effective on two tested phytopathogens. Dextrose as a carbon source and soybean flour as a nitrogen source proved to be the best combination in the medium for production of T. harzianum cultivation broth effective on A. flavus and F. graminearum. Maximal inhibition zone diameters of 31 mm and 56.33 mm were registered in those medium formulations for A. flavus and F. graminearum, respectively. These researches represent an important step for further research in which a medium of low market value would be selected. This would reduce the price of the production process but also the final product.

Influence of the medium on production of trichoderma agent for biocontrol of maize fungal diseases

“…Certainly, the largest source of variation shows the influence of different medium compositions, ie C:N combinations. Similar results were obtained in the research of Mitrović et al (16) where the efficacy of T. harzianum cultivation broth on phytopathogenic isolates F. graminearum and A. flavus was investigated.…”

“…In addition to the experiment on the PDB medium, media containing D-glucose and starch as a carbon sources and (NH 4 ) 2 SO 4 , soybean meal and peptone as a nitrogen sources, were also tested. Considering that organic sources of nitrogen proved to be better in the medium for cultivation of T. harzianum (16), in this experiment two sources of organic nitrogen and one inorganic were selected. The combination of each carbon source with each nitrogen source was investigated, which included six experimental flasks.…”

“…Each carbon source was added in the medium in amount of 25 g/l. On the other hand, nitrogen source was added in an amount of 2.5 g/l in medium used for growth of T. harzianum (16). In addition to combinations of carbon and nitrogen sources, the following components have been added in the medium for T. harzianum production: KH 2 PO 4 (2 g/l), KCl (0.5 g/l) and MgSO 4 x 7H 2 O (0.5 g/l).…”

“…For isolate Penicillium sp., at the highest level of significance there are three medium combinations (marked with a lowercase letter d). The combination of glucose with soybean meal and glucose with peptone (Gc+SB, Gc+P) as well as the combination of starch with soybean meal (S+SB) proved to be the best in the production of T. harzianum bioagent (16). On the other hand, two media did not prove to be suitable for the production of T. harzianum bioagenta efficacy on the tested phytopathogenic isolate.…”

“…Also, the experiment in an enlarged volume will give us data about important parameters of the bioprocess on the basis of which the course of the bioprocess during 120 hours of cultivation can be analysed. As antagonists, soilborne Trichoderma harzianum was used (16). Microorganism is stored in the Microbial Culture Collection of the Institute of Field and Vegetable Crops, Novi Sad, Serbia.…”