Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
It is sold for control of seed- and soil-borne diseases that cause stem and root rots. These
include diseases caused by
Alternaria, Fusarium, Phytophthora
and
Pythium
on a number
of glasshouse vegetables and ornamentals. It also has some suppressive effect on
Botrytis
and
Rhizoctonia
(http://www.verdera.com). Mycostop is applied as a suspension in the
form of a drench, spray or via drip irrigation or alternatively as a dry powder seed treat-
ment. Bulbs, corms and cuttings can be dipped in the spore suspension. The bacterium
colonises the root, excluding pathogens, and also produces antibiotics. In addition, it
produces metabolites that stimulate plant growth.
3.4.1.2
Fungal products
Coniothyrium minitans
: This fungus is a mycoparasite of sclerotia of
Sclerotinia
sclerotiorum
and
Sclerotinia minor
and two products containing conidia of different
isolates of this BCA are available: Contans from Prophyta, Germany (http://www.
prophyta.com) and KONI from Bioved, Hungary (http://www.bioved.eu). Contans is only
available as a wettable granule formulated on glucose, but KONI is marketed as both a
wettable granule formulated on perlite and glucose, and also as a wettable powder formu-
lated on glucose alone. Both products have to be applied and incorporated into the soil
in advance of the crop to enable the mycoparasite to degrade the sclerotia; this may take
several months. All plants susceptible to Sclerotinia rots are suitable for treatment includ-
ing peanut, oilseeds, vegetable crops and ornamentals. Much of the scientifi c background
concerning
C. minitans
as a BCA has been reviewed recently (Whipps
et al
., 2007)
Trichoderma harzianum
: There are numerous products that contain different strains of
Trichoderma harzianum
(Table 3.1) but one isolate, KRL-AG2 (T-22), sold by BioWorks
Inc., USA has been used and developed for several markets in US horticulture and
agriculture in a number of different forms (http://www.bioworksinc.com). This BCA
when applied to soil, planting mixes or turf, colonises plant roots and provides protec-
tion against root pathogens such as
Cylindrocarpon, Fusarium, Pythium, Rhizoctonia
and
Thielaviopsis.
It can also provide plant-growth promotion directly. RootShield granules
are largely targeted at glasshouse and nursery use, and can be incorporated, top-dressed,
broadcast, or applied in-furrow or to planting holes for use on fl owers, bedding plants,
ornamentals, vegetables, pome and stone fruit, trees and tree nuts. RootShield drench is a
wettable powder formulation also targeted largely at glasshouse crops largely as a spray
or drench. Another formulation is PlantShield HC, marketed for the same greenhouse
and transplant crops as RootShield but applied as a soil drench, greenhouse foliar spray,
as well as a dry powder dips or dusts for bulbs, and even to hydroponics. For agricul-
ture, T-22 Planter Box is applied as a coating on seeds and seed pieces, an in-furrow
spray, and as a transplant starter and T-22 HC as a broadcast or in-furrow treatment, both
for use on fi eld and row crops, hay and forage crops, bulbs and vegetables. In Europe,
T-22 is sold by Koppert, the Netherlands as TRIANUM-G and TRIANUM-P, wettable
granule and wettable powder formulations, respectively (http://koppert.nl). TRIANUM
is marketed for use on vegetables, soft fruit, herbs, bulbs, ornamentals, perennials, turf
and arboriculture but rather than being sold as a BCA
per se,
it is said to increase resis-
tance of plants to stress caused by diseases, sub-optimal feeding and watering regimes of
climatic conditions, as well as increasing nutrient uptake, presumably avoiding the need
