Effect of Trichoderma bio-inoculant on emergence and growth of Camelina seedlings

Abstract

Camelina (Camelina sativa) or false flax has been the subject of research in New Zealand as an alternative oilseed crop that can be used as renewable biodiesel feedstock. While being tested in agronomy trials, damping-off and root rot by Rhizoctonia solani was observed to constrain seedling establishment and seed-coating with fungicides was required. The effectiveness of a Trichoderma strain mixture applied in granule or prill formulation on two varieties of Camelina (Suneson and 4164) was evaluated in three glasshouse experiments. Soil from a field with known history of R. solani infestation was used. The bio-inoculant was applied either with or without fungicide (Vitaflo) coated seeds and the numbers of emerged seedlings, diseased and healthy plants were recorded. For the Suneson variety, application with either formulation increased seedling emergence compared with the bare seed control and seedling emergence with the granule formulation was equal to the fungicide treatment (p<0.05). For the 4164 variety, both bio-inoculant formulations increased seedling emergence significantly compared with the bare seed control. In the prill treatment for both Camelina varieties, shoot and root dry weights were equal to the fungicide treatment. With the granule formulation, root dry weight in both Camelina varieties as well as shoot dry weight in ‘4164’ gave significantly higher values than the fungicide treatment. When fungicide coated seeds were sown with the bio-inoculant formulations, significantly higher healthy seedling emergence was observed in Suneson but not 4164. The results from this study show that Trichoderma bio-inoculants can be used alone or in conjunction with a fungicide seed treatment to promote seedling emergence.