2.3. Seed treatment
Uncoated maize seeds were moistened with water for 5 min and
then mixed for ten minutes in a sterile bag with a commercial
formulation of T. harzianum strain T22 (ROOTSHIELD® Intrachem
Italia containing 107 CFU∙g1 propagules and conidia) in a ratio of
10:1 (w/w). Inoculated seeds were placed in single layer on a
polyethylene sheet and dried overnight at ambient conditions
before sowing. To check the effectiveness of inoculation, three
replicates of 100 seeds were randomly chosen, plated on PDA and
incubated at 25 C.
After 5 days, kernels showed growth of Trichoderma spp. and
T. harzianum was identified according to macroscopic and microscopic
characteristics (Gams and Bisset, 1998; Watanabe, 2010). T