Encapsulated eco-friendly Trichoderma species biopesticides and plant growth regulators for biocontrol of microbial rot of post-harvest yam tubers

Abstract

Nigeria comes first in the top twenty (20) yam-producing countries. Accounting for over sixty- million tons of the world’s yam tuber production. The yam produced is barely sufficient, not only because of the large population but majorly due to the loss to microbial (bacteria and fungi) infected rot of yam tuber. The study evaluate the potential of encapsulated Eco-friendly Trichoderma species Biopesticides and Plant Growth Regulators for Biocontrol of Microbial Rot of Post-Harvest Yam tubers. The treatment set-up include biopriming tubers with/without nanoparticles of gibberellic acid; 50µg/ ml and reactivated encapsulated Trichoderma sp. The gibberellin (GA3) nanoparticles size distribution rage from 0.3 - 0.4 and a functionality of 87.25 - 96.90 over a duration of thirty (30) days. The reactivated encapsulated Trichoderma sp shows concentric rings of green and white mycelium macroscopically. The research findings shows that gibberellin nanoparticles and encapsulated Trichoderma can significantly affect the growth out put of tuber plant positively