ABSTRACT

References ................................................................................................................................... 498

The Trichoderma species of fungus was first established in 1794 by the Dutch scientist

C.H. Persoon, but it remained poorly characterized for many years. In 1932, R. Weindling

made the first detailed descriptions of Trichoderma as a parasite of other soil fungi and

concluded that, under certain conditions, Trichoderma might be used for the biological

control of fungal diseases. Apart from some further work by Weindling (1934), however,

Trichoderma as a biocontrol agent received little further attention until the late 1970s. This

gap in biocontrol research is typically explained by the intervening successes of chemical

pesticides. Today, however, with hundreds of studies having being conducted on various

aspects of Trichoderma, this fungus has enjoyed commercial success as a soil inoculant

and seed treatment of agricultural crops, with numerous commercial products being

registered around the world. Here we offer a summary overview of this remarkable

organism; for a more extensive review of Trichoderma, see Harman et al. (2004).