PLANT CELL BIOTECHNOLOGY AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY

β-1,3-glucanase enzyme, not only plays a pivotal role for controlling the plant pathogens when antagonistic fungi like Trichoderma spp. are applied as biological control in the agrifield and in post harvest control of fruits and vegetables but also it has important biochemical and biotechnological applications. Three highly potent antagonistic fungi such as Trichoderma viride, Trichoderma harzianum and Trichoderma asperellum were tested for their efficacy to produce β-1,3-glucanase enzyme on 0.5% chitin in TLE (Trichoderma Liquid Enzyme) medium through colorimetric estimation. The experiments indicated that, the enzyme activity (U/mL) reached its peak after 4 days of inoculation for all the test organisms. T. harzianum, T. viride and T. asperellum were reported with 0.31U/mL, 0.21 U/mL and 0.26 U/mL β-1,3-glucanase activity respectively. In search for biochemical parameters for enzyme activity, pH 5.5 and 35ºC temperature were found as optimum conditions for β-1, 3-glucanase of T. harzianum (0.31U/ mL). After partial purification from the T. harzianum culture filtrate the enzyme was further documented on 12% SDS-PAGE with a molecular weight close to 75 kDa. It may be concluded that out of these three antagonists T. harzianum is the best β-1,3-glucanase producer and the standardized optimum conditions for its β-1,3-glucanase activity is very much suitable for its application as biocontrol agent and in biotechnological industries.