Biological Control of Some Serious Weeds in Dakahlia District. II. Mycoherbicial Production and Physiological Host Responses

ABSTRACT

Four pathogenic fungal isolates belonging to different genera including Alternaria, Fusarium and Curvularia were isolated from selected diseased weeds growing in the fields in Dakahalia district. The inoculum of these pathogenic fungi specific to weeds were cultured, standardized and formulated as alginate pellets containing mycelium plus culture filtrate. These mycoherbicides were evaluated for disease severity (DS). Maximum DS was obtained with the alginate pellets of mycelium filtrate Fusarium solani. Physiological changes of the treated weed were determined 5 and 10 days after treatments. As compared to the healthy weeds, all mycoherbicide formulations significantly decreased the amount of photosynthetic pigments and subsequently soluble and insoluble sugars in the infected weeds. The mycoherbicide formulation of F. solani had the greatest effect on lowering to the abovementioned amount in the leaves of Chenopodium murale. Generally, treatment of weed leaves with the specific mycoherbicide led to a highly significant increase in total phenol content when compared to the healthy control weed. C. murale infected with the mycoherbicide formulation of F. solani had higher levels of phenolic compounds than those other treated weeds particularly after 10 days of inoculation.