Role of Trichoderma in Plant Disease Management and Development of Sustainable Agriculture

Trichoderma is an ascomycetous, filamentous, olive green coloured spore producing soil borne fungus. It is mainly present in decaying vegetation, plant material, wood, agricultural and forest soils. Recently it has gain immense importance due to its ability to parasitize fungal plant pathogens.  It employs various mechanisms such as mycoparasitism, antibiosis, competition, solubilization of inorganic plant nutrients, promotion and plant growth etc. Main reason behind the use of Trichoderma as a promising bioagent is its role in sustainable disease management of plant pathogens. Trichoderma genus combined with suitable agrochemicals forms indispensable part of Integrated Disease Management (IDM) system. This review aims to give a detailed overview about the role played by Trichoderma in crop disease management and development of sustainable agriculture, mechanism employed for biological control and various secondary metabolites produced and biological control of plant pathogens.