Biological control of Botrytis cinerea on chickpea seed with Trichoderma spp. and Gliocladium roseum: indigenous versus non-indigenous isolates

Establishment of chickpea seedlings from seed inoculated with Botrytis cinerea was increased under controlled environmental conditions by treatment of seed with Gliocladium roseum or Trichoderma virens . An isolate of G. roseum (GrH) from Horsham in the chickpea-growing region of western Victoria outperformed T. virens in three soil types, including one to which T. virens was indigenous. There was no effect of soil moisture on seedling establishment from seed treated with GrH, but recovery of G. roseum from seed in continuously wet soil was lower than from wet/dry soil. A factorial assay with three isolates of G. roseum and the soils from which they were isolated showed no interaction between isolate and soil type and no difference between isolates for establishment or recovery. In a field trial at Horsham sown in winter (July), seed treatment with GrH increased establishment from 26.0% (control) to 37.5%. Biocontrol by GrH was ineffective in a winter-sown field trial at Bundoora, but all three isolates increased establishment from 47.5% (control) to up to 87.5% in a trial at the same location sown in spring (October). The commercial implications of these observations are discussed.