Eco-friendly approaches to control wheat root rot and seedlings death caused by Rhizoctonia solani

Abstract

Root rot and seedlings death pathogens are important diseases in wheat-growing regions of Iraq, particularly Rhizoctonia solani as it considered the main causative agent. Therefore, biological control and genotypes with low susceptibility are considered an effective and environmentally friendly way to reduce the impact of this soil pathogen. Current study aimed to evaluate the effect of Trichoderma fungi in reducing the effect of three isolates of the pathogenic fungus Rhizoctonia solani isolates (Rh1, Rh2, Rh3) on three wheat varieties including Abaa, Adna, and Barcelona. Experiments were carried out in postgraduate laboratories of the Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Kufa.   Results showed that Rh3 isolate was the most effective in reducing seed germination and seedling death. The use of bio-fungi led to an increase in germination, a decrease in seedling death, and a reduction in the severity and percentage of infection, which positively impacted plant vegetative growth. Abaa variety appeared to be slight resistant to the studied isolates of the pathogen compare to other varieties. Pots experiment showed that Trichoderma isolates significantly reduced the growth of the pathogenic fungus in double culture dishes with inhibition rates ranging from 55.97% to 69.85%. The outcomes indicate that Trichoderma fungi represent a promising option for the biological control of wheat root rot and seedlings death diseases.