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Byline: Manisha. Kumar, Usha. Gupta, Seema. Thakur, Shilpi. Aggrawal, Jyoti. Meena, Sumedha. Sharma, Shubha. Trivedi Objective: To determine the prognosis of antenatally detected renal anomalies by sonographic evaluation. Materials and [...]

Biocontrol agents belonging to the genus Trichoderma prove to be potent agents against soil borne pathogens. Trichoderma species not only prevents the soil borne pathogens to cause diseases but also play an important role in increasing root growth and development, crop productivity, resistance to abiotic stress and uptake and use of nutrients. During mycoparasitic action CWDEs enzyme plays a crucial role, they hydrolyze the cell wall of pathogen and ultimately released the contents of the organism. The antifungal action of Trichoderma includes a great variety of lytic enzymes such as chitinase, proteases, xylanase and glucanase, which play a key role in bicontrol activity of Trichoderma. Different carbon sources were tested for the induction of CWDEs, Out of the different carbon sources tested Birch Wood induces maximum xylanase production; CMC induces glucanase enzyme production, Twwen-80 for lipase, commercial chitin for chitinase and corn cob for cellulose induction. For xylanase and glucanase enzyme the molecular weight of these enzymes were also determined (47 & 55 Kda). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biocontrol agents are used as a alternative to chemical pesticides for the control of phytopathogens. Trichoderma species are well known biocontrol agents for a variety of soil borne pathogens. However, their efficient interaction with the host needs to be accompanied by production of secondary metabolites and cell wall degrading enzymes. Phosphate solubilizing microorganisms have a considerable positive impact on the growth and development of plants. In the present study ten Trichoderma species isolated from the various agro-climatic zones of Uttar Pradesh were tested for the phosphate solubilization, Volatile metabolite production and cell wall degrading enzyme production activity. All the species shows efficient production of all the tested parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trichoderma spp. are bio control agents extensively used in management of fungal diseases of crop plants exhibiting antagonism against a wide range of plant pathogens. It has been known from many years that Trichoderma spp. produces wide range of antibiotic substances and they paralyze other fungi. They can also compete for key exudates from seeds that stimulates the germination of propagules of plant pathogenic fungi in soil (Howell, 2002) and more generally compete with the soil microorganisms for nutrient and space. Keeping this in view nine Trichoderma spp. viz; T.asperellum, T. atroviride, T. harzianum, T. koningii, T. longibrachiatum, T. minutisporum, T. ressei, T. viride, and T. virens isolated from different locations of India were characterized for their antagonistic activity against wilt and dry root rot pathogens of chickpea. The various spp. showed differential reaction against the test pathogens Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. ciceri (Foc) and Rhizoctonia bataticola (Rb). However, T. harzianum was most effective causing 55.0 and 31.8 percent inhibition of mycelial growth in Foc and Rb respectively. Scanning Electron microscopic investigations about hyphal interactions between antagonists and test fungi revealed that the mycoparasitic hyphae were usually attached longitudinally to the hyphae of the pathogen. Coiling of hyphae, short contact branches, hyphal depression and pincer shaped structures were seen during observations through SEM indicated the mode of action in biological control of the test pathogens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trichoderma belongs to a group of filamentous fungi which is an effective biocontrol agent too against various soil borne pathogens such as Fusarium, Pythium, Alternaria, Sclerotinia, etc. to name a few. The strains in this species exhibit a wide range of functionalities that prove to be fruitful to the ecology. Trichoderma has been validated as a potential bioagent due to its antagonistic activity against destructive pathogens. There are several antagonistic mechanisms exercised by Trichoderma species such as nutrient competition, antibiotic production and mycoparasitism, which justify its biocontrol activity, but, mycoparasitism has been taken into prior consideration in this study. Trichoderma has attained importance as a substitute for chemical pesticides and hence an attempt was intended to corroborate the positive relatedness of molecular and morphological characters. The study aims at identifying a fungal strain of Trichoderma from the soil of an Indian farm located at Meja in the state of Uttar Pradesh. A set of universal primers (Internal Transcribed Spacer regions) was used for the amplification of an 18S rRNA gene fragment and eventually leading to the identification of the strain as Trichoderma harzianum Th azad/6796. Phylogenetic analysis of the newly identified strain was carried out through bioinformatics tools to validate the results and assign this strain as the type strain of a species of the genus Trichoderma. Thus, an integrated approach of morphological and molecular markers can be employed to identify a superior strain of Trichoderma for its commercial exploitation. The strain has also been used in a talc-based bioformulation and its shelf life has been studied that could help in commercializing the specific strain of Trichoderma for the agricultural industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The members of the genus Trichoderma are widely used as bioagent for the control of phytopathogenic fungi in agriculture sector. The members of this genus are reproducing asexually by the formation of cyanide and chlamydospore, in wild habitats they reproduce by formation of ascospores. We all know that all living organisms are made up genes that code for a particular function. Similarly, in Trichoderma some genes are responsible for the secretion of these CWDEs. These genes which aid in the biocontrol action are called biocontrol genes. These bacterial genes code for a particular enzyme and protein that degrade the pathogen cell wall. These biocontrol genes can be isolated and cloned for large scale commercial production. It has also been found that some of the genes of Trichoderma are also helpful in the abiotic and biotic stress. The mechanisms which are employed by Trichoderma for the phytopathogenic action are generally included antibiosis, mycoparasitism competition for nutrients etc. In the present investigation three biocontol genes (ech-42,chit-HAR3 and Xyn2) were identified in Trichoderma harzianum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In glasshouse experiments, different concentrations of Trichoderma harzianum (Th. Azad) was evaluated for biological control of fungal wilt of tomato caused by fusarium. The aim of this research article was to evaluate the bioefficacy of the Trichoderma (Th.azad) species to promote the growth and yield parameters of tomato genotype (Azad T-6) and to manage Fusarium wilt disease under in vitro conditions. Trichoderma was proved as an effective and potential biocontrol agent against Fusarium infecting tomato. During an in vitro biocontrol test, Trichoderma showed mycoparasitism and destructive control against the tested fungal pathogen. The virulent Pathogen Fusarium significantly influences the germination of tomato. The root system of the tomato plant was poorly developed due to the infection. During pot assay along with biocontrol activity, Trichoderma showed growth promoting action on the tomato plant. Trichoderma enhanced growth of shoot and root systems and fruit yield after 4 month of growth. Trichoderma harzianum (Th. Azad) showed the least disease incidence (by 15.45%) compared to control (by 25.50%). Tomato plants treated with Trichoderma harzianum (Th. Azad) also showed a significant stimulatory effect on plant height, Root length, shoot length, fruits and the dry weight of tomato plants in comparison to other concentrations of Trichoderma and untreated control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lipases are very important from the industrial point of view, they are frequently used in food materials, detergents, medicines, cosmetics, leather, perfumes etc. This is the first report which characterizes lipase enzymes extracted from eight different species of Trichoderma. All species were isolated from the different locations of Uttar Pradesh. The best carbon source that induces the maximum lipase production was Tween-80. Maximum extracellular lipase activity and biomass production was achieved with Trichoderma harzianum on media supplemented with Tween-80. The optimum temperature and pH for extracellular lipase activity were 7.0 and 40°C. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, potential and effective strain of Trichoderma (T. harzianum Th. Azad) has been investigated and their effect of pre sowing seed treatment on germination, seedling establishment, seedling dry weight and vigour in chickpea genotype (Radhey) was observed. The different pre sowing seed treatments showed different responses against all eight tested quality parameters. Chickpea seeds were treated with Trichoderma bioformulation and metabolite preparation. As a result, the percentage of seed germination was found to be higher in Trichoderma harzianum (Th. azad) metabolite treated seeds as compared to the Trichoderma bioformulation. Various attributes with their observations include seed germination (61% and 55%), root length (110.4 and 106.112 cm) shoot length (15.47 and 15.2 cm) seedling length (25.48 and 24.94 cm), dry weight (.80 and .77 cm), vigour index I (1554.2 and 1371.7 ) and vigour index II (48.0 and 42.35). Protein content was also high in metabolite treated seeds (1.10 and 1.12) which suggests that metabolite treatment induces some Pr protein encoding genes. Among all treatments, control showed the poorest performance for all eight tested attributes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nanotechnology is the most developing branch of science, it is thought that application of nanotechnology in agriculture will make this sector sustainable and profitable, by reducing the use of fertilizers, pesticides and by enhancing the crop productivity. In other words we can say that application of nanotechnology in agriculture will increase food and nutritional security. However, the main issue related with the application of nanoparticles in agriculture is their toxicity. It is therefore recommended for research organizations to provide research funds to establish safety standards and to develop new techniques for the toxic free synthesis of nanoparticles. Indian council of agriculture research (ICAR) has started a programme to study the effect of nanotechnology in agriculture. The ICAR-nanotechnology scheme has major themes such as synthesis of nano-particles for agriculture use, diagnostic kits for easy and quick identification of disease and pests, nano agri-inputs for enhanced use efficiencies, precision water management, and stabilization of organic matter in soil, nano food systems and bio safety besides establishing the policy frame work. Green synthesis and microbial synthesis of nanomaterial for agriculture use is very important as they are naturally encapsulated with mother protein, therefore more stable and safer to biological systems. The review presents here discuss applications of nanoparticles in agriculture. This review also features out the potential hazardous effects of nanoparticles on microbes and environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Strain identification in situ is an important factor in the monitoring of microorganisms used in the field. In this study, we demonstrated the use of sequencecharacterized amplified region (SCAR) markers to detect genomic DNA from Trichoderma harzianum Th azad from soil. Two primers (SCAR A1/SCAR A1c) were tested against DNA of 49 isolates of Trichoderma spp. and amplified a 900-bp fragment from T. atroviride 11 and a 1.5-kb fragment from T. harzianum Th azad, using an annealing temperature of 68°C. These fragments showed no significant homology to any sequence deposited in the databases. The primer pair, BR1 and BR2, was designed to the 1.5-kb fragment amplified from T. harzianum Th azad, generating a SCAR marker. To test the specificity of these primers, experiments were conducted using the DNA from 49 Trichoderma spp. strains and 22 field soil samples obtained from different agrogeographical condition of UP. PCR results showed that BR1 and BR2 amplified an 830-bp fragment unique to T. harzianum Th azad. Assays in which total DNA was extracted from sterile and nonsterile soil samples, inoculated with spore or mycelium combinations of Trichoderma spp. strains, indicated that the BR1 and BR2 primers could specifically detect T. harzianum Th azad in a pool of mixed DNA. No other soil-microorganisms containing these sequences were amplified using these primers. To test whether the 830- bp SCAR marker of T. harzianum Th azad could be used in real-time PCR experiments, new primers (CSA-Th azadf and CSA-Th azad) conjugated with a TaqMan fluorogenic probe were designed. Real- time PCR assays were applied using DNA from sterile and nonsterile soil samples inoculated with a known quantity of spores of Trichoderma spp. strains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ten species of Trichoderma were isolated from the rhizospheric soil, collected from the different locations of U.P. Both morphological and molecular characterization of the isolated species was done. All the ten isolated species were screened for chitinase enzyme production on solid agar medium using bromocresol purple for developing the clear zone around colonies, and characterized due to its antagonistic effect against mycelia growth of pathogenic fungi. The nucleotide sequences (submitted and retrieved from NCBI) of all ten Trichoderma species are analyzed through TrichOKEY 2 program for their validation post molecular identification. This has confirmed the selected sequences as specific strains of Trichoderma species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most isolates of the genus Trichoderma were found to act as mycoparasites of the many economically important aerial and soil-borne plant pathogens. Trichoderma has gained importance as an alternate for chemical pesticides and hence an attempt was intended to corroborate the positive connexion of molecular and morphological characters. A fungal strain of Tr(CSAU)/7284 (Trichoderma reesei) was isolated from a soil sample collected from CSA Farm, Kanpur, state, India. The universal primers were used for amplification of 25SrRNA sequence fragment and therefore the strain was characterized by using 25SrRNA gene sequence with the association of ITS marker. It's planned that the identified strain Trichoderma reesei be assigned because the kind strain of a species of the genus Trichoderma supported by phylogenetic tree analysis along with the 25SrRNA gene sequence search in Ribosomal Database Project, small subunit 232rRNA and large subunit rRNA databases. The sequence was deposited in GenBank with the accession number KM999966. Thus an integrated approach of morphological and molecular markers will be used to spot a superior strain of Trichoderma for its industrial exploitation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]