Growth Promotion of Parsley (Petroselinum crispum L.) Using Commercial Strains of Trichoderma spp.

The growth of plants by the use of Trichoderma occurs through distinct mechanisms, among which it can highlight the synthesis of phytohormones and auxins analogues. The objective of this work was to evaluate Trichoderma spp. commercial strains in the promoting seedlings growth and in the productivity of parsley plants. In laboratory assay, seeds of parsley cv. ‘Graúda Portuguesa’ were treated with 2 mL of Trichoderma suspension (2.5 × 108 ml-1 conidia per 100 g of seeds) submitted to growth test until 28 days after sowing (DAS). For the greenhouse experiment, parsley seedlings were transplanted into 3.0 L pots containing soil, which was previously treated with 5 mL Trichoderma suspension, totaling 1.5 × 108 conidia per pot. In both, a control without Trichoderma application was included, being arranged in a completely randomized design (CRD). The evaluations were: percentage of germination (PG), root length (RL), shoot length (SL), total length (TL = RL + SL), fresh root mass (FRM), fresh shoot mass (FSM), total fresh mass (TFM = FRM + FSM), root dry mass (RDM), shoot dry mass (SDM), total dry mass (BIO = RDM + SDM), root mass ratio (RMR = RDM/BIO), shoot mass ratio (SMR = SDM/BIO), aerial part/root system retio (AP/RS = SDM/RDM) and productivity at 110 DAS. Althougth no diferences was observed among the Trichoderma treatments and the control about yield, Trichoderma spp. strains provided better TFM (18.98 to 22.92 mg), BIO (3.37 to 4.31 mg) and root system superior to the control (14.20 and 2.44 mg, respectively) under greenhouse conditions. T. harzianum ESALQ1306 was the better strain in laboratory assyas, suggsting this isolate for applied in the seeds when it aims the promotion of initial growth.