ABSTRACT
Pathogens cause large losses to crops throughout the world and thereby significantly reduce agricultural production. Nowadays the world is shifting toward minimizing the application of chemical pesticides, while several biocontrol approaches, tactics and processes are being used in managing plant diseases. Fungal antagonists play a vital role in controlling plant pathogens and diseases and are used as biocontrol agents worldwide. The antagonists can exhibit several direct or indirect mechanisms of action involved in biological disease control. The mechanisms include; antibiosis, mycoparasitism, induced resistance and growth enhancement. Among all the biocontrol agents, the genus of Trichoderma has the greatest potential as a biocontrol agent, which is very effective against some plant fungal diseases control. Furthermore, Trichoderma, in association with plant roots, can trigger systemic resistance and improve plant nutrient uptake. The wide-scale application of selected metabolites to induce host resistance and/or to promote crop yield may become a reality soon and represents a powerful tool for the implementation of IPM strategies.
