Abstract

The major challenge for modern farming has been to increase yields while being environmentally benign. While new technologies have boosted agricultural productivity in all regions, some modern methods have negative environmental consequences. Beneficial microbes, their genes, and/or products, such as metabolites, are used in biological control to minimize the detrimental impacts of plant diseases and stimulate positive plant responses. Among the many species utilised as biocontrol agents, including fungus and bacteria, the fungal genus Trichoderma generates a variety of enzymes that are important in biocontrol activities such as cell wall breakdown, resistance to biotic or abiotic stimuli, hyphal development, and so on. Trichoderma spp. are primarily asexual fungus that may be found in a variety of agricultural soils as well as rotting wood. Plants develop defensive responses or systemic resistance responses as a result of the biocontrol activity including mycoparasitism, antibiosis, and nutritional competition. Trichoderma spp. are currently being utilised in a sustainable disease management strategy to control plant diseases. This review summarises existing research on Trichoderma as a biocontrol agent, its biocontrol activity, commercial production, and use in plant disease management programmes

Keywords

Biocontrol, Trichoderma spp., Antibiosis, Mycoparasitism, Competition, Disease management