Treatment of soybean seeds (Glycine max (L.) Merr. with Trichoderma spp. for control of Sclerotinia sclerotiorum present at the seeds and at the soil.

• Grant number: 12/12276-8
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: August 01, 2012
• End date: July 31, 2013
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Agronomy - Plant Health
• Principal Investigator: José Otávio Machado Menten
• Grantee: Luis Carlos Nascimento Junior
• Host Institution: Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz (ESALQ). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Piracicaba , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The fungus Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, causal agent of "white mold" has caused damage to several economic importance species. This is a fungus with hardly control because it has resistance structures, called sclerotia. Under favorable conditions, such sclerotia can germinate and infect new plants, and remain viable for a longer period of time in soil. S. sclerotiorum can be introduced into an area to seeds and to prevent it from being a source of inoculum is the use of treatments such as chemical, physical and biological. The chemical treatment is the most popular, the physical is used in small proportions and biological, incorporation of an antagonist agent to the seed surface. Of these biological antagonist agents, the most widely used are the fungi genus Trichoderma; tests with this fungus have demonstrated its effectiveness against, especially to control difficult fungi such as S. sclerotiorum. The objectives of this study is to check the efficiency of Trichoderma spp. in vitro, to verify the effects of Trichoderma spp. in physiological quality of seeds and check the efficiency of seed treatment against S. sclerotiorum present in the seeds and soil. The tests will be performed in vitro: production of volatile and non-volatile, directly confrontation and parasitism of sclerotia of S. sclerotiorum by Trichoderma spp., and health and germination of seeds treated with the antagonist, with or without the pathogen. In vivo, three tests will be conducted in a greenhouse, with seeds treated with Trichoderma spp., the first one without the presence of S. sclerotiorum, the second with the S. sclerotiorum pathogen on the seed and the last one soil with the S. sclerotiorum pathogen.