Molecular Characterization and Pathogenicity of Trichoderma Isolates to Meloidogyne javanica

Abstract

Nematodes are considered a serious problem for agriculture. Nematodes of the Meloidogyne genus can attack a wide range of plants, needing different management methods to decrease its population. Fungi from the Trichoderma genus has been related to have potential as biological control agents. However, before an organism is used as biological control agent, first it is necessary to prospect, characterize and test its potential as biocontrol agent, so the objective of this work was to characterize and test fungi isolates of the Trichoderma genus to control M. javanica. We obtained forty isolate to carry out this experiment. We extracted the DNA of each isolate to discover which species we were testing, by doing a PCR and sequencing. We tested in vitro their parasitism effect using ELISA plate. Also, we extracted their filtrate to see if their metabolites have potential to reduce nematode population by showing a high mortality or inhibiting hatching. The results confirmed the high potential of the fungi of Trichoderma genus as a biological agent to control Meloidogyne javanica.