Trichoderma based granular formulation for control of root diseases of crops

Accepted : May, 2010 Use of chemicals in crop production is unavoidable. However, their excessive use is creating health problem due to pollution of air, water and soil, i.e., environment and food product, now under IPM strategies biopesticides and botanical pesticides have emerged as a eco-friendly approach to protect environment for sustainable agriculture and life on the plant (Tiwari, 1995). Members of the fungal genus Trichoderma have been extensively studied particularly due to their ability to acts as biocontrol agents and their antagonistic activity. The inappropriate and indiscriminate uses of fungicides and antibiotics have led to serious environmental threat to human life. Growers are using fungicides and antibiotics for the control of various diseases ignoring the persistency of these chemicals. Besides their non-target effects and hazardous nature, they are becoming more expensive and some are loosing their effectiveness because of development of resistant strains. Thus, there is an all-round compulsion to go in for bio-rational alternative arsenals, which can be eco-friendly and benign to environment. Bio-control agents are the best alternative available today. The antagonistic activity of the bio-control agents has long been recognized as an important factor in the management of soil borne diseases. There is considerable interest in manipulating the soil microbial community to