Trichoderma multiplied on rice

Small-scale multiplication of the soil fungus Trichoderma on parboiled rice, as practised by students of an agricultural school in Jujuy (Argentina) with INTA: the result is rice covered with green spores, used as a soil and substrate inoculant.

Application

Application description: Pour water into the bottle, shake hard until the rice turns white again, strain into a 20 L bucket and apply to the substrate after sowing or to the soil, at times of low sunlight.

Dose: The source gives no dose: the contents of one bottle are washed into water for a 20 L bucket.

Tips

Cleanliness is key: rice that turns black or pink or smells bad is contaminated and must be discarded. Store the bags in the dark and cool (about 10 °C): the source says up to 10 months. Status by country (on-farm production): forbidden without authorisation in the EU, where Trichoderma is a plant-protection active substance; allowed for own use in Brazil (Law 15.070 of 2024), with no sale; in the United States, EPA registration to sell or distribute, and production for own use depending on the state; in Colombia and Argentina, rules to be checked; in Cuba, local production in public centres. Details updated weekly: Entomopathogens page (/entomopatogenos#reglementation).

Preparation process

1. Wash the bottles with water and detergent.
2. Put the rice in boiling water, boil for 5 minutes, drain and let it dry off.
3. Fill the bottles, plug them with paper and cotton wool and sterilise them in a water bath for about 50 minutes.
4. Once cool, inoculate with a few colonised grains, near a flame, away from draughts, on a table wiped with alcohol.
5. Incubate 10 to 14 days on clean shelves, out of sun and dust, shaking every 2 days, until the rice is covered in green.
6. Dry for 10 to 15 days spread on trays in a little-used room, then bag.

Preparation time

3 to 4 weeks (incubation and drying).

Product obtained

Dry rice grains covered with a green powder of spores.

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