Uso de Trichoderma sp como agente biocontrolador de Botrytis cinerea en una plantación de fresa (Fragaria sp) ubicada en la parroquia Valparaíso cantón Guano

Abstract

The aim of the current research was to use Trichoderma sp as a controlling agent for Botrytis cinerea (B. cinerea) in a strawberry (Fragaria sp) plantation, located in Valparaíso rural parish, Chimborazo province. For this research, two stages were carried out. In vitro to determine the antagonistic capacity of Trichoderma sp against B. cinerea where the dual culture technique was used to observe and measure the antagonist, and the pathogen growth during seven days. Bell's scale was used to evaluate the antagonism and the Growth Inhibition Rate (GIR) was calculated for the antagonistic effect. Trichoderma sp achieved level II on the Bell's antagonism scale and inhibited the growth of B. cinerea by 77.86%. For the field stage, the experimental design consisted on five treatments, three of them are biological origin (T1, T2 and T3) at concentrations of 1.25 X 10^9, 3.75 X 10^9 and 3.75 X 10^9 UPC/ml respectively, one is chemical origin "Skipper" (T4) and a group-control treatment (T5). The treatments were applied in the aerial zone of the plant and disease severity percentage was evaluated in the fruit during five weeks. The results obtained were statistically supported by Duncan's test at 5%, where it was determined that T1 was the best treatment for the controlling B. cinerea, since it presented an average of 0% regarding disease severity; T2, T3 and T4 treatments turned out to be less effective and statistically equal. Finally, T5 was considered a deficient treatment since it evidenced an average of 11.92% regarding disease severity. To obtain a better control of B. cinerea, it is necessary to perform sanitation pruning on strawberry plants before applying chemical or biological products.