The study intended to find out the main cause of cowpea damping-off and root rot disease. Separating a group of fungi comprised Fusarium solani, Rhizoctonia solani, and Macrophomina phaseolina. Findings of the field survey revealed fungus F. solani appeared in all isolated samples. The testing of pathogenicity of all isolated fungal isolates led to choosing the F. solani (Fs2) isolate as the most pathogenic in the experiment’s implementation. The biological resistance of Bacillus subtilis and fungus Trichoderma harzianum bore testing, with their high efficiency observed in inhibiting the pathogenic fungus isolate. Biological bacteria with the highest concentration of 10-7 appeared with an inhibition rate of 82.20%. The results showed effectiveness of the chemical pesticide in all the concentrations and were highly successful. The wooden canopy showed the effectiveness of the biological resistance in inhibiting the pathogenic fungus. Results showed interaction of the fungus with bacteria reduced the rate and severity of infection to zero. A significant superiority of the biological resistance elements was notable in reducing severity of infection compared with pathogenic fungus alone. The field results confirmed the woody canopy for the efficiency of the biotic resistance elements in reducing the rate and severity of infection, raising the growth of cowpea plants.
F. solani, T. harzianum, B. subtilis, cowpea damping-off
This study aimed to reveal the effectiveness of biological and chemical resistance elements in inhibiting the pathogenic fungus F. solani, which causes the death of cowpea plants, as well as, improving the growth parameters of the plants.