Claudia Maria Longa

Evaluating the survival and environmental fate of the biocontrol agent Trichoderma atroviride SC1 in vineyards in northern Italy.

Aims:  To study the survival in the soil and the dispersion in the environment of Trichoderma atroviride SC1 after soil applications in a vineyard.

Ecophysiological requirements and survival of a Trichoderma atroviride isolate with biocontrol potential.

Trichoderma atroviride SC1, isolated from decayed hazelnut wood in northern Italy in 2000, is a promising fungal agent for biological control of soil‐borne plant pathogens. The objective of this research was to characterize the biology and ecology of this fungus, in order to determine its environmental parameter tolerance levels and its behavior in the phylloplane and soil systems. To better characterize T. atroviride SC1, the influences of pH, temperature, water activity and different nitrogen and carbon sources on its in vitro growth were evaluated. T. atroviride SC1 survival was assessed on strawberry leaves under controlled conditions in a greenhouse and in sterilized and non‐sterilized soil samples kept at room temperature. Results showed that isolate SC1 is mesophilic and grows best at 25 °C. The fungus tolerates a wide range of pH levels, but growth was reduced on alkaline media (pH ≥ 8). The nitrogen and carbon sources peptone, tryptone, nitrate, mannose, galactose and sucrose were associated with the highest mycelial biomass production, as compared with other potential sources of nitrogen and carbon. The fungus survived on strawberry leaves under greenhouse conditions (25 ± 2 °C, RH = 60 ± 10%) and grew in sterilized soils at room temperature (23 ± 2 °C) for 45 d. However, no increase in mycelial dry weight was observed in non‐sterilized soils. T. atroviride SC1 survived under the test conditions, showing a good potential for use in soil and foliar biocontrol applications. (© 2008 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

Fungal biodiversity in the periglacial soil of Dosdè Glacier (Valtellina, Northern Italy)

Periglacial areas are one of the least studied habitats on Earth, especially in terms of their fungal communities. In this work, both molecular and culture‐dependent methods have been used to analyse the microfungi in soils sampled on the front of the East Dosdè Glacier (Valtellina, Northern Italy). Although this survey revealed a community that was rich in fungal species, a distinct group of psychrophilic microfungi has not been detected. Most of the isolated microfungi were mesophiles, which are well adapted to the sensitive climatic changes that occur in this alpine environment. A discrepancy in the results that were obtained by means of the two diagnostic approaches suggests that the used molecular methods cannot entirely replace traditional culture‐dependent methods, and vice versa.

Soil microbiota respond to green manure in organic vineyards

The aim of this work was to investigate the effects of biodynamic management with and without the addition of green manure, in comparison with organic management, on the microbiota in vineyards soil.