Potential of Cocoa Derived-Endophytic Fungi in the Biocontrol of Phytophthora Palmivora

Cocoa (Theobroma cacao L.) is an important commodity traded worldwide.Commonly cocoa is susceptible to various diseases that reduce its productivity.One of the important diseases affecting cocoa plants is fruit rot caused by Phytophthora palmivora.The study purpose is to explore endophytic fungi in the soil rhizosphere of cocoa plantations and investigate their existence as the potential biocontrol against fruit rot pathogen P. palmivora from different areas.Rhizosphere soil contains endophytic fungi collected from the rhizosphere soil of cocoa plants in Palolo and Labuan, Central Sulawesi, Indonesia.The microbes were successfully isolated.The samples were grouped based on their respective sampling areas.The laboratory test from rhizosphere samples from different areas used dual culture and volatile compound tests.Isolation results from the two areas obtained eight isolates from Palolo identified as: Penicillium (1), Gliocladium (2), Trichoderma (2), Aspergillus (2) and unidentified (1).Six isolates from Labuan identified isolates as Trichoderma (4) and Aspergillus (2).The results obtained in the dual culture test presenting the highest inhibitor for P. palmivora are isolate T1RP3 (78.46%).In the tests, isolate T1RP3 showed the highest inhibition against P. palmivora at 78.46% in the dual culture test, while isolate T5RL3 achieved the highest inhibition at 42.19% in the volatile compound test.