Trichoderma harzianum in pre-planting increases the agronomic potential of pineapple crop

Abstract

Pineapple is one of the major tropical fruits in Ecuador. Because of the demand for products and foods free of pesticide, using Trichoderma constitutes an important alternative to this crop. For these reasons, the aim was to evaluate the effect of the commercial product TRICHO WP-D® based on T. harzianum applied in pre-planting on several agronomic traits of pineapple variety MD-2. The research was conducted in crop conditions at Santo Domingo de los Colorados City, Ecuador. Different doses of the commercial product based on T. harzianum (1x108 cfu g-1): 0, 400, 600 and 800 g ha-1, were applied in pre-planting directly into the soil. At 6 months after sowing, plant height, number of leaves per plant, length of radicle, fresh weight of plants and incidence of diseased plants were evaluated. A randomized complete block design was used with four treatments (doses) and four replications. Tukey test (p ? 0.05) was employed to compare the treatment means. They were also correlated (Pearson correlation) the doses and all agronomic variables. Application of T. harzianum on pre-planting positively affect the plant height, number of leaves per plant, length of radicle and, fresh weight of plants, and negatively the incidence of diseased plants of pineapple crop. Doses used of T. harzianum were correlated only with the plant height and the incidence of diseased plants.