Hyderabad: City scientists have discovered a highly heat-resistant antibiotics producing variety of fungus that can act as an effective biopesticide even in hotter conditions.
The fungus, Trichoderma, is known to be a biopesticide acting against other fungi and bacteria. However, it can’t survive in hotter conditions, typically witnessed here during the crop sowing and harvesting seasons. But, scientists have now identified a heat-resistant strain that can withstand temperatures up to 52ºC. A patent for this has also been filed by the Directorate of Oilseeds Research (DOR) scientists.
Most biopesticides are Trichoderma-based with the ability to suppress more than 60 types of harmful soil-based pathogens. Trichoderma biopesticides are mostly used during the germination stages of the crop seed. But their effectiveness is limited, since they have limited temperature tolerance.
These fungi are effective only in temperature ranges of 15ºC to 20ºC. However, scientists the Hyderabad-based Directorate of Oilseeds Research have discovered two new strains of Trichoderma that can thrive and remain effective even in 52ºC.
Dr Sowmya Poosapati, Dr Prasad Durga Ravulapalli, Dr Navaneetha Tippirishetty, Dr Dinesh Kumar Vishwanathaswamy and Dr Sarada Chunduri from the Department of Plant Pathology, Biotechnology and Agricultural Stati-stics at the DOR jointly led the research efforts.
Scientists said that past research was focused on bettering existing varieties of the Trichoderma through genetic modification, but no success has been tasted yet by experts around the world.
