Combined Application of Trichoderma longibrachiatum T(SP)-20 and Trichoderma asperellum T(AR)-10 in the Management of Stem Rot of Groundnut

Background: Sclerotium rolfsii is a soil borne notorious pathogen widely affecting pulses, vegetables, oil seeds, flowers and ornamentals recording high yield loss. In groundnut it causes stem rot. The current study is focused towards management of S. rolfsii using combined application of Trichoderma spp. under field condition.Methods: Twenty-five isolates of Trichoderma spp. were screened initially against the stem rot pathogen through dual culture method. The effective Trichoderma spp. again assessed by agar well diffusion method and their secondary metabolites were identified using GC-MS.Result: From the 25 isolates, T. longibrachiatum and T. asperellum were inhibitory to the growth of S. rolfsii. The isolate T(SP)-20 of T. longibrachiatum showed 84.44% inhibition of mycelial growth of pathogen followed by T(AR)-10 of T. asperellum (75.55%). The major compounds present in GC-MS analysis of T. longibrachiatum and T. asperellum are 2-Tricosenoic acid (3.29% ), Hexadecane (3.12%) and Phenol (27.18%), 2,6,10-Trimethyltridecane (3.44%) respectively. At field level combined application of effective T. longibrachiatum and T. asperellum excelled well in reducing stem rot disease incidence (82.67%) when compared to individual species.