Endophytic Fungi from Leaves and Twigs of Albizia lebbeck and Their Antifungal Activity

Abstract

 The study was conducted to isolate and identify endophytic fungi from leaves and twigs of lebbeck (Albizia lebbeck) and study their antagonistic activity against some plant fungal pathogens. Results showed isolation of 75 isolate endophytic fungi from 240 segments of leaves and twigs representing colonization frequency of 47.43%. Isolated fungi included different species of Aspergillus which prevail over other species (6 species), and three different isolates of Penicillium, one more species of Paecilomyces, Drechslera, Fusarium, Curvularia, Nigrospora and hyaline sterile fungus. Results showed variation in colonization frequencies within all species isolated from the two plant parts.  Dual culture methods for testing antagonistic activity of isolated endophytes against three plant fungal pathogens, Fusarium oxysporium, Fusarium graminearum and Macrophomina phaseolina showed different antagonistic activities with different endophytes and pathogens, antagonistic activity was evaluated as percentage of inhibition of fungal pathogen. Moreover different antagonistic interactions revealed range between mycoparasitism to competition and production of inhibition zones between the two fungi interaction. These results give indication of the efficiency of using endophytic as fungi as a biocontrol agents in agricultural application against fungal plant pathogens.