Endophytic Trichoderma species are rather aggresive in their colonization of a substrate; I understand that they do it faster and more effectively than mycorrhizal fungi (e.g. Glomus spp.). It seems Trichoderma spp. and Glomus spp. do not antagonize each other. However, given this faster colonizing process of Trichoderma over Glomus, would it be recommendable to inoculate an established crop first with the mycorrhizae inoculum and a few days after with Trichoderma? If so, how much time should one wait between applications?
@ Jose, you have to inoculate separately as Tricoderma is growing very fast and they are not compatible with Glomus species. I think if you are very eager to see the combined effect you must inoculate first with Glomus and wait atleast for 2 weeks then go for Tricoderma inoculation.
I think it is better to add them separately, at first mycorrhizal fungi and followed with Trichoderma after 3-4 weeks. Mycorrhizal fungi need about this period to do its structure in root tissue.
Thank you very much for your responses, J. C. Tarafdar and Islam I Abou-El-Seoud! It definetely seems that the best way to go is to inoculate separately (a few weeks apart) to give the mycorrhizae enough time to succesfully develop. That makes sense. I really appreciate you took the time to answer my query. Best regards!
Dear J. C. Tarafdar and Islam I Abou-El-Seoud, would you be so kind as to provide some references to these aspects regarding the colonization times of Glomus and Trichoderma species, as well as the ecological interactions among them?
We can inoculate both Trichderma species and Mycorrhizal fungi together as the first one found to be functioning outside the root environs and the second one functioning both inside and outside the root environs. And moreover both are not antagonistic to each other
Thank you very much for you response, Ramachandran Muthukumrasamy! I was under the impression that Trichoderma species are endophytic, which would mean they could, in principle, compete with Glomus species while growing inwards into root tissues to colonize them; is this correct? Do you know any article that describes research about the ecological interactions among arbuscular mycorrhizae and Trichoderma? Maybe experimental trials that compare colonization success employing varying inoculation times?
I do not certain that Trichoderma species are strictly endophytic. It seems that it can survive both inside and outside the plant environs. But VAM fungi strictly survive inside the plant environs. We use to advise the farmers to apply together since individual inoculation is labor oriented
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