ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Microbiomes
Sec. Host and Microbe Associations
This article is part of the Research TopicWomen in Microbiome Health ResearchView all 3 articles
Trichoderma combined with palm kernel shell biochar promotes root health and rhizosphere biodiversity in young oil palm seedlings infected with Ganoderma boninense
Provisionally accepted
- 1University of Greenwich, London, United Kingdom
- 2University of Nottingham Malaysia, Semenyih, Malaysia
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) contributes up to 3% of gross domestic product (GDP) in Malaysia. Long-term monoculture production reduced natural biodiversity and increased severe threat by Ganoderma boninense, a causal agent of basal stem rot (BSR) disease. BSR recorded projections of 860,610 hectares of plantations to be devastated by BSR by 2040. While disease management has prioritized good sanitation practices, Trichoderma spp. is a potential solution to combatting G. boninense. In this study, we determined the efficacy of Trichoderma spp. isolate 4A added to palm kernel shell (PKS) biochar (T-mix) to improve oil palm root health. Three-month-old seedlings were observed in control treatments, T1 to T4 and Trichoderma sp. treatments, T5 to 12 with Ganoderma added in T7,8, 11 and 12. Root development parameters such as root architecture, length, diameter, and surface area were observed every two months for six months. Root length of T5 (3.3 m) and T9 (4.4 m) was higher than no-treatment control, T1 (2.5 m) indicating Trichoderma sp. support of root health. T9 (T-mix) has significantly improved root architecture in root scan with denser and multiple root branches as while all other diseased oil palms exhibit stunted roots. The diameter of roots shows similar trend to root length of T9 roots with the highest reading at 5.4 mm. T11 showed the overall improved fungal biodiversity at 6 months post inoculation with potential disease suppressive effects against other common pathogens such as Fusarium sp. This study highlights a new perspective of Trichoderma spp. treatment with biochar to provide protection to growing young oil palm root health, beyond disease control, indicating a beneficial role for early application at seedling stage. For long term application, Trichoderma spp. combined with biochar support healthy fungal dynamics without over-dominating indigenous fungal inhabitants. This is the first study to highlight the role of combined Trichoderma spp. and biochar in influencing the root architecture and rhizosphere dynamics of a perennial oil palm at the seedling stage. Overall, this study presents an exciting opportunity to use a new Trichoderma sp.-biochar solution in the battle against G. boninense.
Keywords: Antagonistic fungi, Metagenomics, Oil palm, Trichoderma, White rot fungi
Received: 09 Nov 2025; Accepted: 22 Jan 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Supramaniam, Anandan, Ali and Selvarajoo. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Christinavimala Supramaniam
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.