Effect of Trichoderma spp. on Eucalyptus camaldulensis clonal seedlings growth

Fungi of the genus Trichoderma are widely used in biological control of phytological pathogens, besides being able to establish associations with plants, increasing their development potential. This work evaluated the development and quality of clonal seedlings of Eucalyptus camaldulensis (clone 58) inoculated with two species of Trichoderma: T. harzianum and T virens, by different methods: treatment of mini-cuttings; incorporating grains of rice colonized in the substrate; spraying of spore suspension and adding spore suspension to the substrate + spraying of spore suspension. The use of Trichoderma provides better performance for all variables, with the largest increases observed in the number of leaves (110%), dry mass of shoot (70.4%), roots (54.7%) and total (64, 8%) and Dickson quality index (70.4%) compared to the control, without Trichoderma. Treatment of mini-cutting with T virens tends to be the most effective treatment in promoting the growth and quality of seedlings. The two species of Trichoderma were found in the roots by endophytic colonization test. Its use proved to be a promising alternative to be adopted in forest nurseries, because in addition to acting in the biological control of plant pathogens, it was able to promote the development of eucalyptus seedlings in nursery conditions.