Efficacy of mixtures of Trichoderma spp. and palm oil in the management of Moniliophthora roreri Cif & Par in cocoa

Abstract

The main objective of the research was to evaluate the efficacy of mixtures of Trichoderma spp. and palm oil in the management of cocoa moniliasis. The experiment was carried out during 2016 in a 40-year-old polyclonal plantation, made up of clones EET-19, EET-95 and EET-103, sensitive to moniliasis. The treatments evaluated were: palm oil + Trichoderma koningiopsis and T. stromaticum (T1), palm oil + T. ovalisporum (T2), T. koningiopsis + T. stromaticum (T3), T. ovalisporum (T4), Hydroxide of Copper (T5) and a control treatment (T6). The main variables recorded were: the area under the disease progress curve (ABCPE), the control efficacy, the yield and the net economic benefit. The data were subjected to the analysis of variance and the comparison of means through the Tukey test, with a 5% probability of error. The treatments significantly influenced the evaluated variables. T1 and T2 showed the highest moniliasis control efficacy with 50.27 and 41.68 % respectively, in addition to having lower disease intensities over time (ABCPE) compared to control. Likewise, these treatments showed a greater increase in the yield of dry grains with 30.18 and 29.46 %, in their respective order; at the same time, they achieved the highest net economic benefits with 1094 and 1050 USD ha-1. The mixtures of Trichoderma spp. and palm oil were effective in managing the disease and increase the yield and economic benefit of cocoa.

Keywords

• vegetable oil
• biocontrol
• antagonist fungi
• frosty pod rot of cocoa