ANTAGONISTIC EFFECT OF AUTOCHTHONOUS ISOLATE TRICHODERMA HARZIANUM AGAINST FUSARIUM WILT OF CABBAGE

The pathogenic fungus Fusarium solani is increasingly causing Fusarium wilt in cabbage cultivation around the world due to climate change and the pathogen's adaptation to high temperatures. Although the use of Trichoderma harzianum as a biofungicide is well documented, the evaluation of the antagonistic effect of the autochthonous isolate is of great local importance. The aim of this study is to test the antagonistic effect of T. harzianum on the growth of F. solani under in vitro and in vivo conditions. The tested hypothesis is that T. harzianum will significantly reduce the growth of pathogen in all experiments. The antagonistic potential of the T. harzianum against F. solani was evaluated by testing non-volatile and volatile production compounds and using a pot experiment on cabbage seedlings. The results demonstrated that T. harzianum, by producing non-volatile metabolites, significantly inhibits the F. solani mycelium growth by 57.8% while it achieves an inhibition of 30.6% by volatile metabolites with significant changes in pathogen microstructures. The results of pot experiment confirmed a significant increase of infected cabbage seedlings growth area after treatment with T. harzianum by 28.3% compared to uninfected plants and by 51.6% compared to infected plants. This study underlines the significant potential of the autochthonous T. harzianum isolate as a biocontrol agent for the suppression of Fusarium wilt in cabbage.