Journal of Oil Palm Research Vol. 30 (1) March 2018, p. 83-93

PROFILING OF ANTI-FUNGAL ACTIVITY OF Trichoderma virens 159C INVOLVED IN BIOCONTROL ASSAY OF Ganoderma boninense

LEE PEI LEE ANGEL*; SHAMALA SUNDRAM*; BONNIE TAY YEN PING*; MOHD TERMIZI YUSOF** and INTAN SAFINAR ISMAIL‡

DOI: https://doi.org/10.21894/jopr.2017.0009
ABSTRACT

Trichoderma has long been recognised as a potential biological control agent (BCA) against pathogenic fungi due to antagonistic characteristics and it has successfully controlled Ganoderma boninense at the nursery stage in previous study. This study attempts to identify the mechanisms involved in the suppression of G. boninense and the anti-fungal compounds released by endophytic Trichoderma virens 159c. Therefore, culture filtrates of endophytic T. virens 159c was extracted using hexane, ethyl acetate (EtOAc) and butanol (BuOH) and anti-fungal activity was tested. The EtOAc extract showed highest anti-fungal activity with percentage inhibition of radial growth (PIRG) of 78.39% ±5.40. The scanning electron microscope (SEM) showed severe deformation of G. boninense PER 71 mycelia observed at the inhibition region caused by EtOAc extract. Further fractionated with column chromatography and antifungal assay revealed that fractions 2 and 4 had highest anti-fungal activity. Analysis carried out using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry detector of the active fraction allowed the identification of acetamide, alcohol, lactones and free fatty acids. Phenylethyl alcohol (PEA) was discovered as a unique compound because the presence was only in the highly inhibitory fraction of T. virens. In addition, dl-mevalonic acid lactone in fraction 4 of T. virens 159c was first reported in T. virens.

KEYWORDS:


* Malaysian Palm Oil Board, 6 Persiaran Institusi, Bandar Baru Bangi, 43000 Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia.
E-mail: shamala@mpob.gov.my

** Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.

‡ Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science; Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.