to be particularly effective in inhibiting the mycelial
growth of fusarium in vitro, and an inhibition zone of
1.4 cm was recorded (Table 1). The population growth
ofT. harzianumTh-10 was very high on dried banana
leaf (4.6×10
32
cfu/g material) followed by banana
pseudostem (2×10
21
cfu/g) and rice chaffy grains
(8×10
15
cfu/g) (Fig. 1). Addition of jaggery to the
dried banana leaves increased the population growth
ofT. harzianumTh-10 even at 1% (4×10
31
cfu/g)
compared to control (1.9×10
5
cfu/g), 5 and 10% concentrations being not significantly higher.
Survival of T. harzianum was studied during
a 6-month storage. The initial population of T.
harzianumTh-10 was 30×10
32
cfu/g dried banana
leaf and 13×10
10
cfu/g of talc. In both substrates, the
population ofT. harzianumTh-10 was maintained at
the same level for 1 month of storage and declined
gradually afterward. After 6 months, the population
had declined to 4×10
15
cfu/g in dried banana leaves
and to 1.1×10
2
cfu/g in talc-based formulation.T.
harzianummultiplied in dried banana leaf increased
rapidly with time in all soils tested. When applied as
dried banana leaf formulationT. harzianumTh-10
increased from 10
4
to a maximum of 10
13
cfu/g of
soil after 60 days. Talc-based formulations of T.
harzianumincreased less rapidly (Table 2).
Soil application of dried banana leaf formulation of T. harzianum Th-10 provided 49.9%, the
talc formulation 40.1%, the fungicide treatment only