Trichoderma ROLE IN AGROFORESTRY-CACAOTAL SYSTEMS AS AN ANTAGONAL AGENT

Abstract

Agricultural and cocoa agroforestry systems are important for food production and biodiversity conservation. Among this diversity there is a group of fungi of the genus Trichoderma that present antagonistic effects against phytopathogens and this action can be used as a form of biological control of plant pathogens. In the agroforestry-cacao system the diseases with the highest frequency and with the greatest impact on cocoa production (Theobroma cacao) are black rot (Phytophthora spp.), Broom broom (Moniliophthora perniciosa) and moniliasis (Moniliophthora roreri). The objective of this work was to perform an analysis of the main theoretical and practical aspects about the genus Trichoderma and its role in agriculture as an antagonistic agent. One of the microscopic features in the delimitation of the genus, especially by the presence of structures called phalid. The antagonistic mechanisms used by Trichoderma spp. Are described as competition, antibiosis and mycoparasitism. Mycoparasitism is having a relevance on the implications of extracellular enzymes such as chitinases, cellulases, β-1-3-glucanases and proteases that lyse or digest the walls of fungi, Moniliophthora roreri disease. This fungus can inhibit the growth of other fungi and bacteria by producing several volatile and non-volatile secondary metabolites. On the other hand, it participates in the production of regulators of growth and stimulation of the division, differentiation and cellular growth in the plant by the elicitor agent. Trichoderma species that are commercialized for biological control, growth promoter and biofertilizer are T. viride, T. polysporum and T. harzianum. The T. virens and T. harzianum species are most used for the antagonistic control of M. roreri, Phytophthora spp., and M. perniciosa in agroforestry-cacao systems (Theobroma cacao L.) with optimal results to the inhibitory effect for these diseases.