Inoculation with Mycorrhiza and Aspergillus fumigatus Improved Tomato Growth and Tolerance to Leaf Blight Induced by Curvularia lunata

Microbial inoculants may improve plant growth and pathogen tolerance, thereby reducing the use of synthetic chemicals in agroecosystems. This study investigated the effects of arbuscular mycorrhiza (AMF) and Aspergillus fumigatus (AF) isolated from bamboo rhizosphere, on the performance of tomato infected with Curvularia lunata. The C. lunata pathogen was isolated from diseased tomato, while the AMF was Claroideoglomus etunicatum. The experiment was laid out as a 2 × 4 factorial in a randomized design comprising treatments with (C+) or without (C-) C. lunata and beneficial microbe inoculations (AF, AMF, AF+AMF, and uninoculated control). The plants (n=3) were raised for six weeks, and the data collected was analyzed using a two-way Analysis of variance with conclusions on significance taken at p≤0.05. Morphological and molecular analysis identified Curvularia lunata with 99.18% identity and Aspergillus fumigatus with 98.01% identity after BLASTn in the NCBI GenBank. The disease incidence in control plants under C+ treatment (64.22%) was significantly higher than in AMF (16.08 %), AF+AMF (12.02 %), and AF plants (10.55 %). The intensity of mycorrhizal colonization was not significantly different, but A. fumigatus colonization was significantly higher in AF treatment compared to AF+AMF. The shoot fresh weight was lowest in uninoculated control plants in C+ and highest in AF+AMF plants in C+ group, with improved shoot phosphorus and polyphenols concentrations in AMF and AF, compared to control. The findings indicate that inoculation of A. fumigatus from bamboo rhizosphere with AMF can improve the growth and disease tolerance of tomato affected by C. lunata.