Compatibility of Piriformospora indica and Trichoderma harzianum as dual inoculants in black pepper (Piper nigrum L.)

The compatibility of two biological inoculants, Trichoderma harzianum, a mycoparasitic biological control fungus and Piriformospora indica, a root colonizing plant-growth promoting endophytic fungus was evaluated using tissue cultured black pepper plantlets. We report, for the first time, the ability of P. indica to colonize black pepper, a perennial climber. T. harzianum inhibited the growth of P. indica in an in vitro dual culture plate assay. Simultaneous inoculation with both biological inoculants of tissue cultured black pepper plantlets negatively influenced root colonization by P. indica. However, when P. indica was applied initially followed 30 days later by T. harzianum, there was increased root colonization by the root endophyte P. indica and beneficial effects were found on the growth of the black pepper plants. The present study also showed that the efficacy of inoculation of the two fungal biological agents can be increased by sequential application of P. indica at the hardening stage followed by T. harzianum during transplanting into a soil-sand mixture.