Evaluation of biochar as a Trichoderma carrier for managing Sclerotinia sclerotiorum in chickpea

Highlights

	● Hardwood biochar supported the highest Trichoderma population and disease suppression.
	● It reduced plant disease severity and increased plant root mass.
	● The most effective preparation was 4% hardwood biochar graded to 100-mesh.
	● This significantly suppressed disease and promoted plant growth.

Abstract

The macropores of biochar provide a suitable habitat for microbial growth, and its high carbon content serves as an energy source for beneficial microbes. This study evaluated the potential of biochar as a carrier for Trichoderma in managing Sclerotinia sclerotiorum in chickpeas. Biochar application reduced plant disease severity by 36.5% and increased plant root mass by 23.3%. For this, three types of biochar, wheat straw, organic kitchen waste, and hardwood were tested with Trichoderma, analyzing such as organic C, total N, P, K, Mg, and Ca; pH, and ash content. Trichoderma populations were monitored with biochar carrier of different mesh sizes (250, 150, 75, and 45 µm) for up to 6 weeks after inoculation. Hardwood biochar at 150 µm supported the highest Trichoderma population, reaching 33.5 × 10⁵ CFU·g⁻¹ after 6 weeks. Hardwood biochar also achieved the maximum disease suppression compared to other biochar types. This research highlights the dual role of biochar in enhancing plant growth and controlling disease, contributing to the standardization of biochar use in agricultural practices.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

Bio-agent / biochar / carrier material / disease suppression / plant growth enhancement / Sclerotinia sclerotiorum / soil amendment / Trichoderma

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Acknowledgements

We are thankful to everyone who has helped us over the course of our research journey. A great help came from Ms. Suman (laboratory officer in-charge) for providing us with all the necessary equipment for the conduction of experiments; a warm appreciation to all our fellow colleagues for helping us out with the field work and data collections; and last but not least, we are very thankful to the Department of Plant Pathology, School of Agriculture, Lovely Professional University for providing us the platform to work on and encouraging us to promote our research ideas onto a global avenue and Researchers from The Ecole Nationale d’Agriculture de Meknès, Morocco for their contribution to this work.

Compliance with ethics guidelines

Prashant Paveen, Vipul Kumar, Prahlad Masurkar, Devendra Kumar, Amine Assouguem, Chandra Mohan Mehta, and Rachid Lahlali declare that they have no conflicts of interest or financial conflicts to disclose. This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

The Author(s) 2024. Published by Higher Education Press. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)