In Vitro Microbial Control of Pathogenic Sclerotium rolfsii

In this study, pure cultures of three antagonistic fungi, Trichoderma, Penicillium and Aspergillus species and a fungal pathogen, Sclerotium sp. were obtained after inoculation on potato dextrose agar (PDA) fortified with antibiotics to prevent bacterial contamination. Pathogenicity test was carried out when the antagonistic isolates were inoculated on PDA 24 h before and after Sclerotium inoculation. Of the three fungal antagonists evaluated for inhibitory efficacy, Trichoderma sp. proved to be the most effective as it exhibited the greatest inhibition to Sclerotium sp. (P<0.01) both at the initial and final tests. This was closely followed by Aspergillus sp. with inhibitory effect on the pathogen at both trials (P<0.01). However Penicillium sp. was slightly inhibitory against Sclerotium. Percentage inhibitions of the antagonists on Sclerotium by Trichoderma, Aspergillus, and Penicillium, were up to 81.36-80.29%, 88.35-73.12% and 56.98-46.24%, at the 6th day of inhibition at both trials, respectively. The result implied that the extent of inhibition by the fungi provides the use of potential antagonists capable of controlling the pathogenicity of Sclerotium sp. in crops for sustainable agriculture. © 2010 Friends Science Publishers