Role of Endochitinase Gene and Efficacy of Trichoderma Against Colletotrichumfalcatum Went. Causing Red Rot Disease in Sugarcane

Role of endochitinase (ech42) gene in Trichoderma was worked out to prove the efficacy against most dreaded red rot disease of sugarcane caused by Colletotrichumfalcatum Went. Trichoderma spp. along with Trichoderma harzianum strain and Aspergillusawamori were tested against the virulent pathotypes of C. falcatum (Cf08, Cf09 and Cf401) under in vitro and in vivo conditions. T. harzianum was significantly able to control the incidence of red rot disease in highly susceptible sugarcane cultivar. PCR-Random amplified polymorphic DNA amplification results clearly separated T. harzianum 1, 2 and 3 from rest of the biological agents. T. harzianum 1 strain was highly diverse and making distant relationship with rest of the T. harzianum bioagents. Wide genetic distance was observed among the red rot pathogens and biological agents. The ech42 specific primers pair amplified a corresponding fragment of 1.5 kb in all Trichoderma spp. Thus, the presence of the ech42 gene was found to be correlated with the biocontrol activity of Trichoderma species. These findings clearly supported that ech42 gene is more specifically responsible for controlling the red rot incidence in sugarcane.