Our results support the consideration that the antibiosis
occurring during the saprophytic and antagonistic
growth of strains T22 and T39 could be involved, in concert
with other mechanisms, during the interaction with
plant pathogens (Howell 1998). Furthermore, T. harzianum
is a well-known producer of cell wall-degrading
enzymes (Elad 2000) and the antibiotics could act synergistically
with them (Schirmbock et al. 1994; Lorito et al.
1996).