A new endophytic antagonistic fungus, Chaetomium spirale ND35 from Populus tomentosa, was reported. The bio-control trials of C. spirale ND35 against the Valsa Canker of apple were preliminarily investigated. The results of dual culture on PDA plate showed that C. spirale ND35 was capable of strong antagonism against Valsa ceratosperma, and for inhibiting the mycelial growth of V. ceratosperma,.the crude extract of liquid culture of corn steep powder broth was more effective than that one of malt extract broth (MEB). The results of bio-control in greenhouse and field indicated that the disease incidence of apple tree treated with C. spirale ND35 was lower significantly than that treated by other methods. The re-isolation experiment suggested that C. spirale ND35 could colonize in stems and branches of apple trees successfully, and the ND35 colonization rate of the treatment with solid wheat bran culture was higher than that of corn steep powder broth, but the field experiment result the control effect of liquid culture of C. spirale ND35 was better than that of solid culture.
Some Chaetomium spp. are capable of antagonizing several plant pathogenic fungi through production of antibiotics and mycoparasitism. Secretion of lytic enzymes, mainly including glucanases and chitinases, is considered the most important step in the mycoparasitic process. In this study, an about 110kDa exo-β-1,3-glucanase from C. spirale ND35 was detected both in culture filtrate and directly on PAGE and IEF gels, as well as chitinases, although protease was not detectable on Litmus milk agar plates. Coiling and penetrating the hyphae of host fungus Valsa mali were observed by scanning electron microscope (SEM), which may be related to the synergistic interaction between β-1,3-glucanase and chitinases. β-1,3-glucanase activity of C. spirale ND35 varied considerably when C. spirale ND35 was grown in different carbon sources during various incubation time, and might be subjected to both induction by substrate and catabolite repression.
