Journal of Environmental Biology

Influence of chitinase production on the antagonistic activity of Trichoderma against plant-pathogenic fungi 

Y.S. Mazrou^1,2, A.H. Makhlouf³, M.M. Hassan^4,5* A. Baazeem⁴, A.A. Hamad^4,5 and M.M. Farid⁶ 

¹Department of Business Administration, Community College, King Khaled University, Abha-62529, Saudi Arabia

²Department of Agriculture. Economics, Faculty of Agriculture, Tanta University, Tanta-3111, Egypt

³Department of Botany, Faculty of Agriculture, Menoufia University, Menoufia-32514, Egypt

⁴Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Taif University, Taif 21944, Saudi Arabia

⁵Department of Botany and Microbiology, Faculty of Science, Cairo university, Cairo 12612, Egypt

⁶Department of Genetics, Faculty of Agriculture, Kafrelsheikh University, Kafr El-Sheikh-33516, Egypt

*Corresponding Author Email : khyate_99@yahoo.com

Paper received: 09.03.2020??????? ?????????????????????????????????????? Revised received: 13.06.2020????????????? ????????????????????????????????????????? Accepted: 06.07.2020

Abstract

Aim: The present study aimed to investigate the antagonistic activity of Trichoderma strains with high chitinase production against some plant pathogenic fungi.

Methodology: A total of twenty-four Trichoderma isolates were extracted from soil samples collected at different geographical locations in Egypt and Saudi Arabia. These isolates were screened for their chitinase production ability using colloidal chitin media. Six isolates with high chitinase ability were identified as T. harzianum by internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region sequencing. These strains were tested for their ability to degrade chitin into N-acetyl-β-D-glucosaminidase. Finally, the biocontrol activities of these Trichoderma strains against pathogenic fungi were tested by dual culture technique.

Results: The maximum activity among the chitinolytic enzymes was 0.051 units ml-1 in Trichoderma strain ABSA19, which showed an activity comparable to the control: pure enzyme, (0.047 units ml-1). The lowest activity (0.014 units ml-1) was found in Trichoderma strain MEG2. In dual culture, Trichoderma strain ABSA19 exerted the highest antagonistic activity in addition to hyphal intertwining and degradation using scanning electron microscopy. Finally, 11 inter simple sequence repeats (ISSR) primers were used to evaluate the genetic polymorphism among Trichoderma strains, which yielded 133 bands with fragment sizes of 130-3400 bp, 47 (35.3%) of which were polymorphic.??? ??                  

Interpretation: The current study confirms the existence of several useful Trichoderma strains with the highest chitinase activity and antagonistic activity against some pathogenic plant fungi that may have a super potential for application in biological control of plant diseases.?

Key words: Antagonistic activity, Chitinase assay, Genetic polymorphism, Internal transcribed spacer, Trichoderma strains

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