Biological control of chickpea blight with some isolates of three species of Trichoderma

Blight, caused by Mycosphaerella rabiei is the most important disease of chickpea in Iran. In order to find a method for the biological control of the disease, the inhibitory effect of 36 isolates of three species, Trichoderma harzianum, T. virens and T. atroviride, on a most virulent isolate of the pathogen, in hyperparasitism, dual culture, and production of volatile antibiotic compounds were investigated in vitro. Then the impact of the nine selected isolates of Trichoderma on the disease severity and growth of chickpea were tested in greenhouse. The results showed that the inhibitory ability of mycelium growth of the pathogen by isolates of T. harzianum, up to 52.42%, were greater than the others in plate assay. Also they had greater ability in reducing of disease severity in greenhouse condition. Some isolates of T. harzianum and T. atroviride had ability to promote the growth of chickpea in the presence of the pathogen with no significant difference as compared with the healthy control. It is the first report of the ability of these Trichoderma species in the biological control of this disease on chickpea.