Trichoderma species : our best fungal allies in the biocontrol of plant diseases : a review

Paulina Guzman-Guzman, Ajay Kumar, Sergio de los Santos-Villalobos, Fannie I. Parra-Cota, Ma. del Carmen Orozco Mosqueda, Ayomide Emmanuel Fadiji, Sajjad Hyder, Olubukola Oluranti Babalola, Gustavo Santoyo

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

119 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Biocontrol agents (BCA) have been an important tool in agriculture to prevent crop losses due to plant pathogens infections and to increase plant food production globally, diminishing the necessity for chemical pesticides and fertilizers and offering a more sustainable and environmentally friendly option. Fungi from the genus Trichoderma are among the most used and studied microorganisms as BCA due to the variety of biocontrol traits, such as parasitism, antibiosis, secondary metabolites (SM) production, and plant defense system induction. Several Trichoderma species are well-known mycoparasites. However, some of those species can antagonize other organisms such as nematodes and plant pests, making this fungus a very versatile BCA. Trichoderma has been used in agriculture as part of innovative bioformulations, either just Trichoderma species or in combination with other plant-beneficial microbes, such as plant growth-promoting bacteria (PGPB). Here, we review the most recent literature regarding the biocontrol studies about six of the most used Trichoderma species, T. atroviride, T. harzianum, T. asperellum, T. virens, T. longibrachiatum, and T. viride, highlighting their biocontrol traits and the use of these fungal genera in Trichoderma-based formulations to control or prevent plant diseases, and their importance as a substitute for chemical pesticides and fertilizers.
Original languageEnglish
Article number432
Number of pages35
JournalPlants
Volume12
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Feb 2023

Open Access - Access Right Statement

Copyright: © 2023 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

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