Response of wheat crops to Trichoderma fungus inoculation

Abstract

The use of growth-promoting microorganisms represents a sustainable strategy to increase the productivity and quality of agricultural crops. This study aimed to determine the productive response of thirty wheat cultivars to inoculation with two species of fungi of the genus Trichoderma. The species T. harzianum was inoculated in the experimental plots by spraying in the 2020 harvest, and the species T. asperelloides was inoculated via seed treatment in the 2021 harvest. The trials were conducted under field conditions without irrigation, in an experimental area belonging to the Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock, Sustainable Production and Irrigation of the Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil. The treatments evaluated consisted of a bifactorial scheme (cultivar x inoculation) in a randomized block experimental design with four replications. The productive response of the wheat crop to inoculation with fungi of the genus Trichoderma was variable according to the wheat cultivar and the species of microorganism. Of the 30 wheat cultivars that received T. harzianum inoculation in the 2020 harvest, 15 cultivars responded positively to the application of the bioinput, with production increases ranging from 0.8 to 20%. The inoculation of T. asperelloides increased the productivity of 12 wheat cultivars in the 2021 harvest, with percentages between 3.91 and 27.20%. The wheat cultivars that showed production increases under field conditions with the use of both bioinputs were: FPS Certero, LG Fortaleza, LG Cromo, LG Oro, Inova, BRS 327, BRS Belajoia, BRS Reponte and TBIO Sinuelo.