Evaluation of the effectiveness of some mycorrhizal fungi isolates against charcoal rot disease

Abstract Background The sunflower plants are attacked by serious seed and soil-borne pathogens including charcoal rot disease that caused by Macrophomina phaseolina . This disease has serious damages to sunflower crop. This study aimed to assess the efficacy of Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus against charcoal rot disease as fungicide alternative. Results Morphological and molecular identification was done, using universal primers for molecular identification. Finally, a greenhouse experiment was conducted, and the length and weight of the plant shoot and root as well as disease incidence and severity percentages were estimated for the treatments infected with the M. phaseolina pathogen. The results showed that molecular identification indicates their subordination to Claroideoglomus etunicatum and Funneliformis mosseae . The greenhouse experiment showed that combined inoculation treatments ( C. etunicatum + F. mosseae and C. etunicatum + F. mosseae + M.phaseolina ) had the highest averages of length and weight of the plant shoot and root in the non-infected and pathogen-infected ( M. phaseolina ) treatments. F. mosseae and F. mosseae + M.phaseolina treatments had better effects on plant growth. M. phaseolina pathogen had suppression effects than the C. etunicatum inoculum ( C. etunicatum and C. etunicatum + M. phaseolina treatments). The disease incidence and severity percentages decreased significantly in the inoculated plants than in non-inoculated plants. F. mosseae inoculum showed more efficiency in reducing DI and DS than C. etunicatum inoculum, while adding both, resulting in an extra significant reduction. The combined inoculation, which functions as a biofungicide and a biofertilizer, presented a viable biocontrol technique for crop protection. Conclusions Such the AM fungi treatments are considered good and biological safe. The symbiotic relationship of AM fungi with plants can also be utilized to gain successful management of agricultural against soil-borne diseases for getting rid of the negative effects of pesticides.