The effect of Trichoderma Spp. on physiological parameters of two tomato cultivars grown under greenhouse conditions

• Main Authors: Bojović, Mirjana, Vukelić, Igor, Srećkov, Zorana, Mrkonjić, Zorica, Radić, Danka, Racić, Gordana, Panković, Dejana
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: English
• Published: Novi Sad : Prirodno-matematički fakultet 2021
• Subjects: tomato; Trichoderma; greenhouse; non-destructive measurements; Narvik
• Online Access: https://redun.educons.edu.rs/handle/123456789/543; http://redun.educons.edu.rs/bitstream/id/1031/bitstream_1031.pdf

INTRODUCTION: Fungi that belong to the genus Trichoderma colonize plant rhizosphere and are considered as good candidates for the use in environmentally friendly agriculture as plant growth promoters and biocontrol agents. In recent years, investigations are focused on the use of non-destructive characterization of plant responses to different abiotic and biotic stresses. OBJECTIVES: Dualex sensor was used in order to pre-screen the reaction of tomato plants treated with different Trichoderma isolates, based on the previous investigations that imply that the positive effects of this fungi depend on the plant genotype. METHOD / DESIGN: The experiment was conducted in a randomized block design under greenhouse conditions with two replicates. In total 30 plants of two tomato cultivars were transplanted in soil, per treatment: NC-control Narvik, GZC- control Gruzanski zlatni, NT1 - T. harzianum; NT2 - T. brevicompactum; NT3 - T. harzianum + T. brevicompactum; GZT1 - T. harzianum; GZT2 - T. brevicompactum; GZT3 - T. harzianum + T. brevicompactum). The suspensions of Trichoderma isolates were applied in the root zone of tomato plants, in the phase of three established leaves per plant. Measurements of chlorophyll (Chl), flavonols (Flav) and anthocyanins (Ant) content were done in vivo on fully developed leaves of the tomato plants, using Dualex optical sensor (Force-A, Orsay, France), once per week during 50 days of plant growth. NBI (Nitrogen Balance Index) was calculated as Chl/ Flav ratio. RESULTS: Results obtained in this experiment showed that in both cultivars, the content of chlorophyll did not change significantly after Trichoderma application. However, positive trend for Flav content was observed for the cultivar GZ in the treatment with T2. In contrast, at the beginning of the experiment, NBI index decreased in GZ as influenced with T1 and T2 treatments, which could indicate a shift from primary to secondary metabolism in mentioned cultivar. Moreover, it could be noticed that during plant growth content of ...