Outlooks in Pesticide Managment Feb. 2008. pp DOI: 10.1564/19feb00
Changing paradigms on the mode of action and uses of
Trichoderma spp. for biocontrol.
Harman, G.E., T. Björkman, K. Ondik, M. Soresh.
Department of Horticultural Sciences, New York State
Agricultural Experiment
Station, Cornell University, Geneva, NY 14456
ABSTRACT Trichoderma spp. have been known to control
plant
diseases biologically for more than 70 years. Within the past decade,
these fungi have begun to be used widely in commercial agriculture. The
long period of development between the original discoveries of some of
the useful properties of these fungi and their first commercial
adoption can be
explained in part by an incomplete understanding of the nature of the
biocontrol interaction. Some strains are very good at inducing
increased growth responses, while others are very good at inducing
resistance. T. harzianum T22 seems to be a good generalist. We expect
that, as the full mechanisms of the changes induced by root
colonization are understood, including both the elicitors produced by
effective strains as well as the changes induced in plants, it will be
possible to use this knowledge to produce much more effective
biocontrol organisms and systems.
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