Use of Trichoderma fungi in spray solutions to reduce Moniliophthora roreri infection of Theobroma cacao fruits in northeastern Costa Rica

Abstract

Cacao (Theobroma cacao) is an important cash crop in tropical climates such as that of Latin America. Over the past several decades, the infection of cultivated cacao by Moniliophthora roreri, known commonly as "monilia", has significantly hindered cacao production in Latin America. Studies have proposed the use of Trichoderma sp. fungi in biocontrol treatments to prevent and reduce monilia infection, yet tests of Trichoderma-containing spray treatments on cacao agroforests have produced mixed results. Researchers and agricultural workers have suggested that addition of soil, fly ash, or other carbon sources to a Trichoderma spray may improve its efficacy in fighting monilia. To test these suggestions, we designed a series of spray mixtures including Trichoderma cultures, soil, and all necessary controls. We applied the spray mixtures to 80 cacao trees (20 trees for each of four resistant-selected clones to monilia) at the FINMAC organic cacao plantation in Pueblo Nuevo de Guacimo, Limón Province, in northeastern Costa Rica in March-April 2013. Five treatments were applied (control, water, water plus sterilized soil, water plus Trichoderma, and water plus sterilized soil plus Trichoderma). Each treatment was applied to four trees of each clone. We monitored the incidence of monilia infection under each spray treatment over the course of 35d. We found that spraying entire cacao trees two times with a mixture containing Trichoderma and sterilized soil significantly reduced the incidence of monilia infection by 11% (p<0.05) in only 35d, as compared to the control. This reduction in loss of cacao pods translates into an increase of plantation mean productivity of 1 500kg dried beans/ha by 198kg/ha up to 1 698kg/ha or by a total increase over the whole 110ha plantation by 21 780kg. We propose that using such an antifungal spray over the whole course of a crop cycle (120 days) would decrease infection incidence even more. Application of this fungal control measure has the potential of revitalizing the production of cacao in the region. Rev. Biol. Trop. 62 (3): 899-907. Epub 2014 September 01.

Antifungal effect from Zingiber officinale, Aloe vera and Trichoderma sp. for control of Moniliophthora roreri in Theobroma cacao in Huánuco, Peru

“…De Sousa et al (2021) evaluated five isolated Trichoderma spp., on seed treatment and seedling production of Theobroma cacao and found fungi incidence of 26.5% only in the control treatment, while incidence fungi was 0% for all Trichoderma isolates. Likewise, Seng et al (2014) reported a significant reduction of incidence of monilia infection by 11%. As well, significant differences (P<0.05) were reported among incidence and fruit weight (except T1 and T2).…”

“…On the other hand, Seng et al (2014) reported monilia infection reduction by 11% in only 35 days when Trichoderma sp. (T3) was used as a spray on the entire cacao tree.…”

“…of fungus and bacteria since these are friendly to the environment and easy application (Toala et al, 2019;Villamil et al, 2016;Villamizar-Gallardo et al, 2017). For instance, Seng et al (2014) applied Trichoderma sp. to control M. roreri in Costa Rica and reported a monilia reduction of 11% in only 35 days.…”

PAPEL DE Trichoderma EN LOS SISTEMAS AGROFORESTALES-CACAOTAL COMO UN AGENTE ANTAGÓNICO

“…(Cordero, 2010;Peabody, 2005). A lo largo de las últimas décadas la infección de cacao cultivado con Moniliophthora roreri, conocida comúnmente como moniliasis, ha dificultado la producción del cacao en América Latina de manera significativa (Seng et al, 2014).…”

New seed coating containing Trichoderma viride with anti-pathogenic properties

“…Large-scale disease control techniques are implemented using chemical fungicides, which are expensive, harmful to living organisms, and environmentally irresponsible. Spraying with a spore suspension of Trichoderma fungi has a well-documented protective anti-fungal effect, e.g ., on soybean ( John et al, 2010 ), chickpea ( Pradhan et al, 2022 ) or cocoa ( Seng et al, 2014 ). Recently, Trichoderma -enriched seed coatings have been developed for many plant seeds ( Cortés-Rojas et al, 2021 ), and the coating allows beneficial microorganisms to colonize the roots at an early stage of growth ( Tavares et al, 2013 ; Ben-Jabeur et al, 2019 ).…”