Abstract
This study was conducted to isolate and identify Trichoderma harzianum Rifai and Rhizoctonia solani by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique with the presence of the ITS1 and ITS4 primer pair. The study was also carried out to investigate the efficacy of rice husk compost fortified with the bio-control agent, T. harzianum for the resistance of wheat seeds to the pathogenic fungus, R. solani, and to evaluate the effect of the compost on wheat germination and seedling, and irrigation water usage. The results showed that the highest germination rate which was found to be 100% was achieved with the T.h.+S treatment while the lowest germination was 93.3% with both the T.h.+RHC+S and R.s.+RHC+S treatments compared to germination of 96.6% with the control treatment. The RHC+S treatment resulted in the highest percentage of rotting seeds which was 10% while the lowest percentage of rotting seeds which reached 0% was achieved with the T.h.+S treatment. The results also showed that with R.s.+RHC+S and T.h.+RHC+S treatments, the highest shoot length at 21 post-planting days was achieved which was found to be 1.3 cm and 1.2 cm, respectively compared to other treatments including the control. Regarding fresh and dry weights, treatments with RHC had significantly much higher fresh and dry weights than all other treatments. It was clear from the experimental results that the highest number of branches/plant was recorded in the treatment of T.h.+RHC+S that was 5.3 followed by RHC+S treatment with 4.6 while the lowest number of branches/plant was recorded in the control treatment which was only 1.8. Amount of water used for irrigation in treatments of T.h.+RHC+S and R.s.+RHC+S was reduced to be 233.33 compared to 600.00 in the control treatments. The highest chlorophyll content was 2.4 and was recorded in the treatment of R.s.+RHC+S with a significant difference from all other treatments. The T.h.+S treatment gave the lowest chlorophyll content. In fact, treatments that incorporated RHC had always higher values of plant total chlorophyll contents. Earliest flowering was achieved with the RHC+S treatment while the R.s.+S treatment resulted in the latest flowering.
