Effects of Trichoderma spp. on Maize Growth and Meloidogyne arenaria Reproduction. G. L. Windham, Research Plant Pathologist, USDA-ARS, Crop Science Research Laboratory, Mississippi State, MS 39762. M. T. Windham, and W. P. Williams. Assistant Professor, Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville 37916; and Research Geneticist, USDA-ARS, Crop Science Research Laboratory, Mississippi State, MS 39762. Plant Dis. 73:493-495. Accepted for publication 3 January 1989. This article is in the public domain and not copyrightable. It may be freely reprinted with customary crediting of the source. The American Phytopathological Society, 1989. DOI: 10.1094/PD-73-0493.

The effects of Trichoderma harzianum and T. koningii on two commercial maize hybrids grown with and without Meloidogyne arenaria were investigated in the greenhouse. Root necrosis was not observed on plants grown in soil infested with either of the Trichoderma spp., M. arenaria, or a combination of either fungal isolate with the nematode. Shoot and root growth of both hybrids in Trichoderma-infested soil was significantly enhanced (P = 0.05), regardless of the presence of M. arenaria, compared to plant growth in treatments without Trichoderma. When plants were grown in soil infested with T. harzianum or T. koningii, the reproduction of M. arenaria on the root-knot-susceptible maize hybrid was suppressed, whereas reproduction on the root-knot-resistant hybrid was not affected.