Alternatives to Chemical Control of Grey Mold Disease on Cucumber Caused by Botrytis cinerea Pers

摘要

Assessment the efficiency of fungal antagonists and chitosan as foliar application against cucumber grey mold was carried out in greenhouse condition. The evaluated antagonistic fungi were Trichoderma harzianum, Trichoderma hamatum, Trichoderma viride, Gliocladium roseurn and Gliocladium vireins. Chitosan was tested at three concentrations 0.1, 0.2 and 0.3%. It was noticed that all treatments significantly reduced grey mold incidence in cucumber plants comparing with untreated plants. Among all tested antagonists, T. harzianum and T. viride better than others were in inhibiting disease incidence and improving plant defense against the pathogen. Chitosan treatments did not show antimicrobial activity against Botrytis cinerea isolates in vitro however, when it used as a foliar spray on greenhouse it showed a highly significant control level of grey mold disease. According to obtained results from the current study, it could be suggested that the application of antagonistic fungi and chitosan might bean easily applied, safely and cost effective alternative control method to chemical control of grey mold of cucumber.