EVALUATION OF FIVE BIOGENIC ORGANISMS ON THE GROWTH AND YIELD OF TOMATO PLANTED ON FUSARIUM WILT (<i>Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. Lycopersici</i>)

Tomato is a global important vegetable crop valued for its nutritional content (vitamins A, B, C, and minerals). Fusarium wilt, caused by Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. lycopersici, is one of its most devastating disease, invading the vascular system and causing yield losses of 30% to 100%. This study evaluates the effectiveness of five biogenic organisms Ganoderma lucidum, Pleurotus ostreatus, Pleurotus florida, Trichoderma harzianum, and Trichoderma atroviride as biological control agents against Fusarium wilt, comparing their performance with Fusarium oxysporum, fsp lycopercisi, Mancozeb fungicide and distilled water control, while assessing their impact on vegetative growth and yield performance. The experiment was conducted in a completely randomized design with eight treatments replicated three times under controlled condition. Tomato seedlings were root-dipped in F. oxysporum inoculum before transplanting, and biogenic treatments were applied two weeks post-transplanting. Growth parameters (number of leaves, number of branches, plant height, and fruits) were monitored bi-weekly for twelve weeks, alongside disease severity assessments and yield measurements. Results demonstrated significant variation in treatment efficacy across parameters. G. lucidum exhibited highest disease suppression capacity with 68.88% reduction in Fusarium wilt severity, followed by Pleurotus ostreatus and Pleurotus florida at 52.77% each. Pleurotus florida and Mancozeb fungicide maintained the highest leaf production (65.51 and 64.97 respectively at harvest), while Pleurotus ostreatus, Pleurotus florida, and distilled water promoted optimal plant height. However, Mancozeb and the control treatment produced the highest fruit yields (22.88 and 21.22 fruits; 212.78g and 174.11g respectively), indicating that disease control efficacy did not directly correlate with maximum yield performance. F. oxysporum alone showed complete ineffectiveness (0.00% disease reduction) and poorest growth outcomes. The study confirms that biogenic control agents, particularly G. lucidum, P. ostreatus, and P.florida, demonstrate considerable potential for Fusarium wilt management in tomato production.