Effects of fungal endophytes from perennial ryegrass on the growth of plant pathogens

Abstract： In this paper, we evaluated the effects of 4 strains of endophytic fungi and their fermented products on the growth of 4 plant pathogens. The four strains of endophytic fungi were NA1, NM2, NP2 and NF1 which were isolated from 4 cultivars of perennial ryegrass, Accent, Medary, Pinnacle and Fairway respectively. The 4 plant pathogens were Alternaria alternata, Bipolaris sorokiniana, Curvularia lunata and Drechslera sp.. The 4 strains of endophytic fungi were incubated with the pathogens by the dualculture. The spores germination and colonies growth speed of plant pathogen were measured under dualculture test and with and without the apply of endophytic fungi fermented products. The results showed that the growth of four pathogenic fungi were inhibited by endophytic fungi and the inhabitation of the endophyte were different to different pathogenic fungi. The inhibition of endophytic fungi to the pathogens were between 42.51%~46.25%, 31.45%~43.97%, 34.51%~46.55% and 40.19%~46.62% respectively. The fermented products of four endophytic fungi obviously inhibited all pathogenic fungi colonies growth and spores germination, of which, NF1 had the strongest inhibiting activity than that of the other endophytes (P＜0.05), and also, the fermented products of NF1 showed strong inhibition on colonies growth and spores germination of Bipolaris sorokiniana, the rate of inhibition were 57.20% and 86.60% respectively.