Microbe-Mediated Stress Mitigation and Growth Promotion in Early Blight Challenged Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) Under Greenhouse Conditions

Abstract

A greenhouse pot experiment was carried out to investigate the ability of the
microorganisms to reduce stress and enhance growth of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) cv.
during the Rabi season 2023-24 under Alternaria solani challenge Kashi aman cultivar of
tomato. The experiment was designed in a completely randomized design consisting of ten
treatments with four replications (pathogen-only, untreated control and preventive
applications of Trichoderma asperellum, two Bacillus strains (BN-5 and BS-9) and
Pseudomonas fluorescens alone or in combination with the pathogen). Plant Height, Fruit
Weight, Fruit Dimension, Fruit Thickness, Locule Number and Total Soluble Solids were
significantly affected by all the treatments. Trichoderma asperellum was the only fungus that
recorded the highest plant height (73.17 cm), fruit weight (95.37 g), equatorial diameter (4.27
cm), thickness (0.53 cm), number of locules (3.50) and total soluble solids (4.32%). In the
pathogen challenged treatments, pathogen alone and pathogen + T. asperellum + A. solani had
significantly higher plant height and fruit weight than other pathogen challenged treatments.
The outcomes showed a beneficial effect of the selected microbial agents, especially T.
asperellum and BN-5 on growth and fruit quality of tomato in greenhouse and their potential
role in sustainable early blight stress management.