Biological Control of Gray Mold, Blue Mold & Rhizopus Soft Rot on Grape, Pear, Kiwi, Strawberry by Trichoderma Harzianum

This research aimed at evaluation of biological effectiveness of Trichoderma harzianum against the gray mold, blue mold and rhizopus soft rot caused by B. cinerea, P. expansum and R. stolonifer, respectively, on four types of fruits (Grape, Pear, Kiwi, and strawberry). Also, it aimed at determination of the minimum protection period from infection with gray mold, blue mold and Rhizopus soft rot on the same types of fruits. T. harzianum was applied in form of invert emulsion (water- in- oil formulation) after being introduced into the emulsion in form of conidia, in addition to using non-formulated form of the fungus. The experiments of evaluation of efficacy was carried out under laboratory conditions (18 2 C) and 16 hours of illumination per day under humid conditions (100٪). Results obtained have demonstrated that the treatment with the fungus ( T. harzianum) formulated in invert emulsion reduced significantly gray mold, blue mold and Rhizopus soft rot lesion diameter compared to other treatments. Significant differences (P 0.05) were obtained in reducing the lesion diameters of gray mold, blue mold and Rhizopus soft rot treated with Trichoderma in invert emulsion in comparison with the control treatment. Results have also indicated that T. harzianum formulated in invert emulsion on unwounded grape fruits gave the longest minimum protection period against the gray mold infections. This demonstrated the biological effectiveness of Trichoderma harzianum in protecting unwounded grape berries from gray mold infection for long time (up to 25 days). Moreover, it is recommended to confirm the efficacy of the fungus against B.cinerea, P. expansum and R. stolonifer especially in the formulated form under a wide range of temperatures and relative humidity's, in addition to the controlled atmosphere conditions.