Several strategies promote phyllosphere colonization by soil-born Trichoderma plant-beneficial strains. One of these strategies is foliar spraying with suspensions containing large amounts of chlamydospores—spores with thick cell wall structures that make them highly resistant to harsh environmental conditions. Trichoderma biomass was produced by cultivation on a cornmeal medium and compared with the biomass produced on potato dextrose broth by microscopic and thermogravimetric analyses. The analyses revealed increased chlamydospore content and thermostability in the fungal biomass produced on the corn meal medium. The Trichoderma suspension rich in chlamydospores was sprayed on bitter gourd (Momordica charantia) leaves at two inoculant concentrations, 10⁶ and 10⁸ ufc/mL. The effect of these treatments on the plant physiological parameters, leaf photosynthetic pigments, polyphenol and flavonoid contents, antioxidant activities of the leaves and fruits, and yield was compared to the control (plants sprayed with water) and to the experimental treatment involving spraying with 10⁸ ufc/mL of propagules produced in potato dextrose broth. The effect of chlamydospore-rich suspensions on plant physiological parameters was more pronounced and long-lasting compared with the other treatments. The treatment with chlamydospore-rich suspension enhanced the accumulation of polyphenols and flavonoids in the leaves (by 17% and 50%, respectively) and fruits (by 18% and 31%, respectively) and increased the antioxidant activity. The Trichoderma treatment increased the yield by +25.33–53.07%. The application of the foliar treatment with Trichoderma suspensions did not modify the cytocompatibility of the extracts from the fruits determined on the L929 cells.

Strigolactones (SLs) have potential to be used in sustainable agriculture to mitigate various stresses that plants have to deal with. The natural SLs, as well as the synthetic analogs, are difficult to obtain in sufficient amounts for practical applications. At the same time, fluorescent SLs would be useful for the mechanistic understanding of their effects based on bio-imaging or spectroscopic techniques. In this study, new fluorescent SL mimics containing a substituted 1,8-naphthalimide ring system connected through an ether link to a bioactive furan-2-one moiety were prepared. The structural, spectroscopic, and biological activity of the new SL mimics on phytopathogens were investigated and compared with previously synthetized fluorescent SL mimics. The chemical group at the C-6 position of the naphthalimide ring influences the fluorescence parameters. All SL mimics showed effects similar to GR24 on phytopathogens, indicating their suitability for practical applications. The pattern of the biological activity depended on the fungal species, SL mimic and concentration, and hyphal order. This dependence is probably related to the specificity of each fungal receptor–SL mimic interaction, which will have to be analyzed in-depth. Based on the biological properties and spectroscopic particularities, one SL mimic could be a good candidate for microscopic and spectroscopic investigations.

Light is known to impact various aspects of Trichoderma, with possible implications for industrial and agricultural applications. In this study, we investigated the irradiation of Trichoderma atroviride with blue light using a laser source system. We determined the cellulase and protease activities and the effects of UV–Vis absorption of the filtrated culture on conidia formation, dimension, and behavior, and on the apparent chlamydospore abundance, as a function of irradiation duration, dose of irradiation, and moment of irradiation. We show that the effects on the enzymatic activities range from positive to neutral to negative. Compared with previous studies, our stimulation with light does not show a drastic negative effect on the cellulase (CMC-ase) activity, but it seems to delay the maximum activity over time. The effects on the proteases are partially in agreement with the only previous study reported for the light effects on protease activity. The number of conidia is increased upon irradiation, representing an expected behavior, and we show for the first time to the best of our knowledge that the conidia dimensions and chlamydospore number also increase. Our data also suggest that the highest dose resulted in the conidia clustering around the liquid–air interface, suggesting an increased hydrophobic character.