Integración de prácticas culturales y control biológico para el manejo de Moniliophthora roreri Cif & Par

In Colombia, yield loses in cocoa ,due to the Frosty Pod Rot Moniliophthora roreri Cif & Pa, are significant and the traditional methods of control are not enough. For the disease management, the biological control, the-refore, emerges as an economically viable and environmentally sustainable alternative. The objective of this study was to evaluate Moniliophthora roreri control’s by analyzing incidence and severity parameters, using native and commercial strains of Trichoderma spp., combined with agronomic practices (AP). Ten treatments were evaluated. They included: agronomic practices, biological products, native fungi strains, and chemical fungicide combinations,. A completely randomized design with four replicates and 40 experimental units was used. Each unit consisted of a plant of the TCS01 (Theobroma Corpoica La Suiza 01) variety. Foliage ino-culations were done using concentrations of 1.2, 1.5, and 2,9 x107 UFC.g-1for native fungal strains and 2,0 and 5.0 x108 UFC.g-1 concentrations for commercial strains . External incidence and severity on fruits were evaluated during 25 weeks. Results showed that fruits inoculated with treatment T7 (AP + Safer soil W.P®) and treatment T4 (AP +mixture of Trichoderma H 0, H3, H5) presented the lowest external incidence and severity percentages and the highest yield, without significant differences between the chemical and regional control. According to the results, these treatments represent a promising alternative for cocoa production in the western subregion of Boyacá.