Diversity, phosphate solubilizing, and IAA production of culturable fungi associated with healthy and wilt banana

The objective of the study was to isolate fungi from healthy and wilt banana in order to understand their diversity as well as their physiological characters to produce growth hormone and solubilize inorganic phosphate. The fungi were isolated from the leaves, roots, and rhizosphere of the banana. As many 13 fungal isolates were associated with wilt banana, consisted of Fusarium, Trichoderma, Bipolaris, Colletotrichum, Clonostachys, and Talaromyces genus. On the other hand, 12 fungal isolates that belong to 10 genera related to the healthy banana have been isolated, including Trichoderma, Pallidocercospora, Purpureocillium, Pallidocercospora, Mycosphaerella, Chaetomium, Neonectria, Pararamichloridium, Xylaria, and Neocordana. We found that the fungal isolates associated with wilt banana, particularly from the Fusarium genus, actively produced IAA in the presence of exogenous L-Tryptophan have high ability to solubilize insoluble phosphate. The ability of fungal isolates to solubilize insoluble phosphate was correlated with their ability to acidify the medium. Supplemental data for this article is available online at .

Automated summary

The study aimed to isolate fungi from healthy and wilt banana to understand their diversity and physiological characters in producing growth hormone and solubilizing inorganic phosphate. Thirteen fungal isolates were associated with wilt banana, while 12 fungal isolates belonged to 10 genera were related to healthy banana. Fungal isolates, particularly from the Fusarium genus, associated with wilt banana showed high ability to produce IAA and solubilize insoluble phosphate in the presence of exogenous L-Tryptophan.