Enhancing Seed Germination and Vigor of Chickpea by Using Potential and Effective Strains of Trichoderma Species Vipul Kumar *, Mohammad Shahid , Mukesh Srivastava , Anuradha Singh , Sonika Pandey and Antima Sharma Biocontrol Laboratory, Department of Plant Pathology, Chandra Shekhar Azad University of Agriculture & Technology, Kanpur, U.P., India * Corresponding author: Vipul Kumar, Biocontrol Laboratory, Department of Plant Pathology, Chandra Shekhar Azad University of Agriculture & Technology, Kanpur, U.P., India, Tel: 0512 253 4156; E-mail: vipulpathology@gmail.com Rec date: April 08, 2014, Acc date: April 26, 2014 Pub date: May 02, 2014 Copyright: © 2014 Kumar V, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Abstract In this study, potential and effective strains of Trichoderma such as T. harzianum (Th. Azad) and T. viride (01PP) have been investigated and their effect of pre sowing seed treatment on germination, seedling establishment, seedling dry weight and vigour in chickpea genotype (Radhey) was observed. The different pre sowing seed treatments showed different responses against all seven seed quality parameters. Chickpea seeds were treated with different concentrations of Trichoderma bioformulation such as 5%, 10%, 20% gm/kg seed followed by treatment with 0.2% Bavistin. As a result, the percentage of seed germination was found to be higher in T. harzianum (Th. azad) & Trichoderma viride (01PP) treated seeds with 5% bioformulation as compared to the other concentrations. Various attributes with their observations include seed germination (92% and 90%), root length (12.38 and 12.19 cm) shoot length (4.97 and 4.32 cm) seedling length (17.38 and 16.50 cm), dry weight (1.19 and 1.88 cm), vigour index I (5197.12 and 1485) and vigour index II (109.48 and 169.20). Among all treatments, control showed the poorest performance for all seven seed quality attributes. Keywords: Germination; Trichoderma; Vigour; Chickpea Introduction Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) remarkably predominates among other pulse crops in terms of both area and production and the crop is widely growing in` India as well as other tropical, sub-tropical and temperate regions of the world. Its seeds contain high amounts of protein (25.3-28.9%), even after dehulling [1]. Chickpea seeds are eaten fresh as green vegetables, parched, fried, roasted, and boiled; as snack food, sweet and condiments; seeds are ground and the flour can be used as soup, dhal, and to make bread; prepared with pepper, salt and lemon it is served as a side dish. Among various factors attributed to the low productivity of chickpea, such as susceptibility to wilt diseases is the most important. Chickpea is also affected by biotic and abiotic constraints and seed treatment is an important aspect to obtain higher germination and good quality seedlings. Wilt (Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. ciceri (Pad.) Snyd and Hans is one of the serious diseases of chickpea causing heavy loss upto 10-100% depending on fungal inoculum and environmental conditions). Chemical control of the disease is less effective against Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. ciceri as it survives in the soil for a longer period of time due to the presence of chlamydospores. Therefore, cultivation of resistant varieties is an economical approach available for the disease when only a few resistant varieties are available [2]. As such, in the present context, biological control of dry root rot of chickpea offers great promise. The species of Trichoderma have attracted attention because of their effectiveness against various plant pathogens [3]. They have shown impressive results against many phytopathogenic fungi [4] including M. phaseolina [5]. The isolates of Trichoderma species included in the present study were evaluated earlier against several seed and soil borne plant pathogens. Materials and Methods Freshly harvested seed of chickpea (Radhey) was obtained from seed processing plant of C.S. Azad University of Agriculture & Technology, Kanpur. One hundred seeds were counted and weighted to apply the recommended dose of Trichoderma bioformulations into three replications. The test included four treatments base materials viz., bio-control agent (Trichoderma harzianum (Th. Azad) as well as Trichoderma viride (01 PP) @ 5% g/kg -T1), 10%@g/kg seed-T-2), 20%@gm/kg seed- T3, Bavistin @0.2%/kg- T4) and control –T5. Four treatments of different formulation of Trichoderm harzianum such as 5%, 10%, 20% furrow application of Trichoderma harzianum 2% w.p.@ 2.5 kg h- and bavistin included with control. All the treatments were tested as dry seed treatment method [6]. Different combination of Trichoderma formulation along with 100 seeds of chickpea was used for studies. Seed treatment was carried out with the help of paper towel method [7]. The treated seeds were subjected to assess the germination and vigour as per the procedure recommended by ISTA at laboratory of Department of Seeds Science & Technology, C.S. Azad University of Agriculture and Technology, Kanpur. Seed germination was recorded 5 days after treating in all the experiments. Seed germination was recorded on the basis of number of the seed germinated out of total germination. Seedling length of the seed was recorded 10 days after treatments in all the experiments. Shoot and root lengths of the seeds were recorded on the basis of randomly selected ten plants per treatment in lab experiment [8]. The dry weight of the seedling were measured on the basis of randomly selected 10 germinated seeds per experiment were placed in hot air oven at 60º C for 36 hours. Two recommended methods viz., germination per cent x seedling length for vigour index I [9] and germination x dry weight for vigour index-II was adopted during the course of investigation. Virology & Mycology Kumar V, et al, Virol & Mycol 2014, 3:2 DOI: 10.4172/2161-0517.1000128 Research Article Open Access Virology & Mycology ISSN:2161-0517 VMID, an open access journal Volume 3 • Issue 2 • 1000128 V i r o l o g y & M y c o l o g y ISSN: 2161-0517