Ability test of endophytic fungi to suppress the development of anthracnose disease (Colletotrichum capsici) in chili plants (Capsicum annum) in the Karo Highland

Abstract

Anthracnose is one of the important diseases in chili plants. One way to control this disease is using endophyte fungi. The aim of this research was to examine the ability of endophytic fungi to suppress the development of anthracnose disease in chili plants in the Karo Highland. This research was conducted at the Rajapayung village, Sub-District Berastagi, District Tanah Karo, North Sumatera and at Plant Pathology Laboratory, Agrotechnology Study Program, Agriculture Faculty, USU. This research used Factorial Randomized Group Design method with 2 factors, 27 treatments and 2 replications. The first factor was the application method: application to seeds (A1), application on leaves (A2), and apllication on fruit (A3) while the second factor was the kind of isolates endophyte fungus. The results of the isolation were Trichoderma sp., Rhizoctonia sp., Aspergillus sp., Penicillium sp., Gliocladium sp., Hormiscium sp. The results of this research showed that the lowest of percentage disease anthracnose in last observation was in the application on leaves treatment (5, 36 %) and treatment with Penicillium sp. (0.00 %). The highest plant height was in the treatment with a application on leaves with unknown hyphae (112.08 cm). The highest production was in the application on leaves treatment (0.58 ton/ha).