Development of Interspecies and Intergeneric Protoplasm fusant of Trichoderma spp. and Metarhizium anisopliae and their Efficacy against Rhizoctonia solani and Colletotrichum capsici

Author: Tingneinem Linda Suantak, K.C. Puzari and Pranab Dutta*

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Abstract

Protoplasts from three fungal antagonists Trichoderma asperellum (ITCC-8886.12), Trichoderma harzianum (ITCC- 8887.12) and Metarhizium anisopliae (ITCC - 8882.12) were obtained following cell-wall digestion by using 20 ml of lysing enzyme (cellulase) @ 8 mg/ml concentration prepared in phosphate buffer. The protoplasts were fused using 40% (w/v) PEG suspended in STC buffer (0.6 M sorbitol, 10mM CaCl2 and 10mM Tris- HCl at pH 7.5). In the present study, the fused protoplasts were regenerated and 9 fusant isolates were used to study their antagonistic activity against Rhizoctonia solani and Colletotrichum capsici. Among the nine isolates, fusant1 (T. harzianum + T. asperellum) showed maximum mycelial growth inhibition with inhibition per cent of 68.88 for R. solani and 82.58 for C. capsici. All the tested fusant isolates exhibited increased antagonistic activity against both the pathogens than the non-fusant isolates of the parent strains except for fusant3 (T. asperellum + M. anisoplia

Keywords

Colletotrichum capsici, Fusants, Metarhizium anisopliae, Protoplast fusion, Rhizoctonia solani, Trichoderma asperellum, Trichoderma harzianum.

Conclusion

The present study clearly demonstrated that fusant produced from the fusion between Trichoderma harzianum and Trichoderma asperellum showed maximum mycelial growth inhibition of the pathogens C. capsici and R. solani in-vitro. The radial growth of fusants of T. harzianum, T. asperallum and M. anisopliae were fast as compared to the non-fusants ones. The inter-generic and inter- specific protoplast fusion resulted in considerable increase in enzyme activity. The protoplast fusion technology can be further applied for developing superior industrially important fungal strains and mycopesticidal strains. This technique can successfully be used to develop superior hybrid strains in filamentous fungi and entomopathogenic fungi that lack inherent sexual reproduction.

References

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How to cite this article

Suantak, T.L., Puzari, K.C. and Dutta, P. (2021). Development of Interspecies and Intergeneric protoplasm fusant of Trichoderma spp. and Metarhizium anisopliae and their Efficacy against Rhizoctonia solani and Colletotrichum capsici. Biological Forum –