In the second plant experiment, about 80 L of the same bark mixture were inoculated with A. gallica-infected wood (two pieces of wood per liter of bark) and incubated under conditions conducive to A. gallica colonization of bark [high RH (90 ± 10%) in the dark at room temperature]. After 90 days of incubation, when the bark had been homogeneously colonized by A. gallica mycelia and rhizomorphs, the bark was used as A. gallica-infected mulch in the experiment. Half of these infected bark samples were treated with a T. atroviride SC1 suspension, as described in the first experiment.
After 14 days of incubation, the bark was applied to potted strawberry plants as mulch, as previously described. The rest of the infected bark samples (without SC1) were also used to mulch strawberries. Each treatment was applied to 20 plants. The three mulch treatments were as follows: A. gallica-infected bark inoculated with a suspension of T. atroviride SC1, A. gallica-infected bark without SC1 and sterile bark (untreated control). The plants were arranged in a randomized complete block design, with four blocks of five plants per treatment. A. gallica infection of the strawberry plants
was evaluated 3 months after mulching and the percentage of infected plants for each treatment (disease incidence) was calculated. At the same time, samples of the bark used as mulch were collected, ground and cultured on selective media (as described in sections 2.2 and 2.3) to evaluate the presence of viable T. atroviride SC1. Each of the two experiments conducted on strawberry plants was repeated after one month under the same conditions