Understanding Its Role Bioengineered Trichoderma in Managing Soil-Borne Plant Diseases and Its Other Benefits

With growing concerns about the shortage of food all over the world, plant diseases have been posing a dangerous threat to the agricultural and horticultural crops every year. The methods to control these plant diseases chemically have not met any success and instead have led to economic, health, safety, and environmental risks. An alternative to this problem is the employment of biological antagonists. Trichoderma is among the most commonly isolated and studied soil fungi. These fungi have been commercially marketed as biofertilizers, biopesticides, and soil amendments. Various strategies have been employed by Trichoderma to enhance the plant defense against pathogens, plant growth, and development. The biocontrol or Trichoderma-plant-pathogen activity involves mycoparasitism, antibiotics, nutrient competition, lytic enzyme production, root colonization, systemic defense induction, and soil environment influence. The macromolecular mechanism of these biocontrol activities and their corresponding genetical background play a vital role in understanding and improving the efficiency of natural strains and thereby help in controlling plant diseases and improving plant growth resourcefully. In this chapter, we focus on the mechanism underlying these fungi-plant-pathogen relationships at various levels for better application in various industries.