TITLE:
Probable Effects of Dual Inoculation of Maize (Zea mays) Stem with Fusarium verticillioides and Certain Trichoderma Species on Fumonisin Content of Maize Seeds
AUTHORS:
A. A. Sobowale
KEYWORDS:
Fumonisins, Antagonist, Trichoderma Species, Pathogen, Fusarium verticillioides
JOURNAL NAME:
American Journal of Plant Sciences,
Vol.10 No.5,
May
27,
2019
ABSTRACT: Seeds from maize (Z. mays) plants whose stems received various treatment combinations
of pathogen (F. verticillioides) and four antagonists (i.e. Trichoderma harzianum strain
2, T. hamatum, T. pseudokoningii strains 2 and 5) in the field were subjected to
fumonisin analysis. Three pairing methods were employed for the inoculation of
pathogen and the antagonists into stem of
the maize plant, viz., “Pathogen inoculated before Antagonist”, “Antagonist
inoculated before Pathogen”, and “Antagonist and Pathogen inoculated
simultaneously”. Controls include “Inoculation of pathogen alone”, “Inoculation
of antagonist alone”, and “Inoculation of sterile toothpicks”. Inoculation
method used was the toothpick method. Seeds were harvested five weeks after
inoculation and subjected to fumonisin analysis. Resulting data were subjected
to ANOVA using the GLM procedure of SAS. There was a high significance among
treatments i.e. there were varying
levels of fumonisin occurrence among the treatments and varying Fusarium occurrences within the blocks.
Seeds from treatments involving “Inoculating T. pseudokoningii strain 5
alone” and “Inoculating T. harzianum strain 2 alone” had the highest
mean fumonisin content (P > 0.01) which were not significantly higher than
in control. Seeds from treatments involving “Inoculating T. pseudokoningii strain 5
and pathogen simultaneously” and “Inoculating T. harzianum strain 2 before pathogen” were significantly low in
fumonisin content compared to seeds from other treatments. Seeds which received “Inoculation of T. hamatum alone” were also
significantly low (P > 0.01) in fumonisin content compared to others. It
could thus be said that treatments involving Trichoderma species applied in the maize stem might have an effect on the fumonisin content and hence Fusarium occurrence in the seeds
depending on the occurrence pattern of the Trichoderma within the maize stem.