Effect of NPK fertilizer, Wood vinegar and Trichoderma hamatum fungus on damping-off disease of tomato seedlings caused by Fusarium solani

Abstract

    Fusarium solani induced damping-off is an important limiting factor for tomato production in Iraq, and leads to severe epidemics with large stand losses. This research aimed to test the efficacy of organic NPK fertilizer, wood vinegar and bio-control fungus Trichoderma hamatum either sole or coupled application against disease incidence and seedling performance. The NPK fertilizer (18 g pot⁻¹) was the best fertilizer treatment and resulted in the highest level of germination rate (80.55%), least seed rot incidence (19.45%) and minimum seedling mortality (9.63%). It also possessed better growth characteristics both among all endophytes tested, such as maximum height of seedling (6.602 cm), shoot dry weight (0.7657 g) and root dry weight (0.06214 g). Among wood vinegar concentrations, the 2% level was the most effective with germination (84.44%) and seed rot (15.56%) both reduced and lower percentage of seedling mortality (7.04%), as well as better growth attributes (seedling height 6.587 cm; shoot dry weight 0.7717 g; root dry weight 0.06237 g). With respect to fungal ratios, the T3:F0 treatment (pure T. hamatum) exhibited the best performance resulting in the highest germination percentage (91.67%), lowest seed rot incidence (8.33%) and most vigorous growth of seedlings (height 6.785 cm; shoot dry weight 0.8460 g; root dry weight 0.07582 g). In conclusion, T. hamatum and 2% wood vinegar combined with NPK at 18 g were observed to substantially contribute to disease control and the improvement of seedling vigor under our experimental condition, suggesting that these appeared promising in integrated management of tomato damping-off.