In vitro Study of Antagonistic Capability of Trichoderma harzianum against Aspergillus niger Isolated from Rotten White Yam (Dioscorea rotundata) Tubers

In vitro antagonistic study using dual culture technique was carried out at Advanced Plant Pathology Laboratory, Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi, Nigeria to assess the potential capability of Trichoderma harzianum as a biocontrol agent against Aspergillus niger isolated from rotten yam tubers. The test antagonist (T. harzianum) was introduced at three different times (same time with pathogen, two days before the inoculation of the pathogen and two days after the inoculation of the pathogen). The plates were incubated for 192 hours and measurements of mycelial radial growths were recorded at intervals of 24 hours beginning from the third day. The results of in vitro interactions between T. harzianum and A. niger revealed that T. harzianum was able to significantly (P ≤ 0.05) inhibit the growth of A. niger at the three different times of introduction of T. harzianum and this increased with the time of incubation. T. harzianum grew faster than A. niger and produced inhibition zones which completely stopped the growth of A. niger. Mean percentage growth inhibition was found to be highest (77.79%) when T. harzianum was introduced 2 days before inoculation of A. niger followed by introduction of T. harzianum same with A. niger (45.96%). The least percentage growth inhibition (28.47%) was recorded when T. harzianum was introduced 2 days after inoculation of A. niger. In all cases, T. harzianum was observed to be effective at checking the growth of A. niger in vitro and therefore showed the capability for the biological control of the pathogen. It is therefore recommended that for effective in-vitro control of A. niger, T. harzianum should be introduced 2 days before the arrival of A. niger.