International Biodeterioration & Biodegradation 85 (2013) 243e253

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International Biodeterioration & Biodegradation

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ibiod

Review

Composting of oil palm bres and Trichoderma spp. as the biological

control agent: A review
Saili Nur Shafawati, Shaquzzaman Siddiquee*
Biotechnology Research Institute, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Jln UMS, 88400 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia

a r t i c l e i n f o

a b s t r a c t

Article history:
Received 27 July 2012
Received in revised form
20 March 2013
Accepted 6 August 2013
Available online

Oil palm production is a main agricultural industry in Malaysia, in which oil palm bres (trunk, frond and
empty fruit bunch) are considered as major waste products. Huge amounts of waste products are created
great environmental problems, ecosystem degradation, affect health of the communities and high
disposal costs per year. Composting is an alternative way to transform the bulky biomass into a valuable,
manageable product for use in plantation or as market product. The aim of this review is to summarize
composting process of oil palm bres especially EFB and in application of Trichoderma sp. as the biological control agents. However, more research and review on the information regarding oil palm bres
compost and Trichoderma sp. application as the biocontrol agents in oil palm bres compost needed to
exploit their actual potential, which is the outstanding objective of this review.
2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords:
Trichoderma spp.
Biological control agents
Oil palm bres
Composting process

Contents
1.
2.

3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Oil palm biomass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
2.1.
General characteristics of oil palm biomass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2.2.
Empty fruit bunch (EFB) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2.3.
Oil palm frond (OPF) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2.4.
Oil palm trunk (OPT) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Composting of oil palm biomass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
Trichoderma sp. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
4.1.
Application of Trichoderma sp. in compost . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Benefits of composting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7
Impact of composting to the environment and economic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8
Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8
Uncited references . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

1. Introduction
Oil palm tree originally originated from Africa and the consumption believed to be started since 5000 years ago during the
* Corresponding author. Tel.: 60 88 320000x8467; fax: 60 88 320993.
E-mail
addresses:
shaqpab@ums.edu.my,
shaq.siddiquee@gmail.com
(S. Siddiquee).
0964-8305/$ e see front matter 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ibiod.2013.08.005

time of Pharaohs. The tropical climate and afuent with natural

resources oil palm allow this plant grow well in humid parts of
tropical South East Asia. In 1917 Malaysia rst oil palm tree introduced and commercially cultivation started in 1960s through an
authority called FELDA. Starting on 2000, Malaysia and Indonesia
became the top world producer of oil palm product (Abdul Khalil
et al., 2006; Sridhar and AdeOluwa, 2009). In 2004, oil palm industries occupied the largest area of plantation in Malaysia with

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S.N. Shafawati, S. Siddiquee / International Biodeterioration & Biodegradation 85 (2013) 243e253

3.87 million ha. Currently, Malaysia oil palm plantations is about

41% of world production (Fig. 1) and occupied 4.5 million ha land
(MPOB and MPOC, 2011) and makes Malaysia as the worlds largest
producer and exporter of palm oil.
Palm oil has become the largest production share in the world
fat industry. In 2008, approximately 43% (160 million tons) of total
oil palm world oils fats production is produced compared to others.
From 1992 to 2008, the production of oil palm is increased of 13.5%
(127.8 million tons) (MPOB and MPOC, 2011). In 2005, Malaysia
accounts the highest percentage of global vegetable oils and fat
trade. Two years later Malaysia conquers about 47% of the worlds
supply of palm oil (Sumathi et al., 2008). Oil extracted rate (OER)
performance by Malaysian Oil Mills in February 2012 recorded
20.36% and in Sabah itself recorded the highest OER in Malaysia
(24.62%) (MPOB, 2011). Malaysia yearly production of palm oil industry is about 13 million tons of crude palm oil (CPO) and their
applications as shown in Table 1.
Three main sectors in palm oil industries are the agriculture
(plantation), transportation and industry (milling). Together, these
sectors cooperate to full the world demand of palm oil which is
continuously increased due to the competitive prices and energy
efcient production of palm oil along with the growing market.
About 360 palm oil mills operated in Malaysia in 2003 processing
about 72 million tons of oil palm fruits which produced
13.35 million tons of crude palm oil and 1.64 million tons for crude
palm kernel oil (Yusoff and Hansen, 2007).
Despite the large amount of revenue gained by this industry, oil
palm produced a large quantity of residues and wastes. Ridzuan
et al. (2002) reported that the residues produced by the oil palm
industry in worldwide are more than 100 million tones. Later,
Najafpour et al. (2007) come up with a theory; only 10% of the
production of palm oil is the crude palm oil and the remaining 90%
is the non-oil biomass. Each hectare of oil palm eld produced
approximately 21,625 tons of biomass per year (Nor Aishah et al.,
2009) and the biomass expected to be increased as the high demand of palm oil products.
There are few types of waste produced by the industry (Fig. 3).
Through the advanced in biotechnology, palm oil mill efuent
(POME) can be used as fermentation media, fertilizers, live food for
animals and agricultural organisms (Ta et al., 2009), hydrogen
production and source for fertilizers and carotene (Foo and
Hameed, 2010). Palm kernel cake (PKC) used to be feed to animal

Table 1
Palm oil products and the applications (Sime Darby Plantation, 2009).
Upstream
Activities
Seed production
Nursery
Cultivation
Harvesting
Milling
Products
DxP seeds
Fresh fruit bunches
Crude palm oil
Palm kernel
Biomass
(Empty Fruit
Bunches, Kernel,
Shell, Fronds,
Trunks)
Palm oil mill
efuent

Midstream

Downstream
processing

Consumer
products

Trading
Crude palm
oil bulking

Rening
Fractionation
Oleochemical
Esterication
Rened
product storage

Packaging
and branding
Food products
Non-food
products

Crude palm
oil
Palm kernel
Crude palm
kernel oil
Palm
kernel cake

RDB Palm oil

Palm Fatty
Acid Distillate
RBD Palm Olein
RBD Palm Stearin
Cocoa Butter
Equivalent
Cocoa Butter
Substitute
Fatty acids,
alcohols,
amines, amides
Glycerines
Palm methyl
esters
Tocotrienol

Cooking oil,
frying fats
Margarine
Shortening
Ice cream,
non-dairy
creamers
Candles, soap
Emulsiers
Vitamin E
supplements
Confectionary
Bakery fats
Biodiesel
Energy
generation
Animal feed
Organic fertiliser
from biomass

because it is high source of energy, aatoxin free, good palatability,

readily available and cost effective (American Palm Oil, 2013). The
leaf instead possess good ex vivo vasolidation and antioxidant
properties; good to reduce hypertension and other cardiovascular
ailments (Juliana et al., 2011). In order to reduce waste bres, few
alternatives practiced in Malaysia such as soil mulch (Hamdan
et al., 1998) used as solid fuel to generate power and steam
(Yuhazri et al., 2012) and production of board (Lionel, 1996;
Ridzuan et al., 2002). Unfortunately, these solutions come
together with the negative effects to the environments and costly.
Therefore composting is suggested as an alternative way to transform the bulky biomass into a valuable, manageable product for use
in plantation or as market product (Thambirajah et al., 1995).
In composting process, the waste will be converted to compost
after going through the degradation process. Studies done by
Dayana Amira et al. (2012) conclude rapid composting successfully
achieved by the addition of specic fungi inoculants. Fungi are well
known with its ability to degrade lignin in woody material (Beata,
2007). Trichoderma spp. is the suitable fungi where it owned best
criteria as a biological control agent; strong competitive effects for
space and nutrients also produce toxin against phytopathogenic
species (Mohamad Zainuddin and Faridah, 2008).
Developing the proper microbial system can make sure an
efcient and effective composting process. In addition, proper selection of suitable species microorganism is crucial in determining
fungis ability and specialty in degrading wood. This new technology guarantees extra revenue for farmers and also eco-friendly. So
that oil palm industries should be taken great advantage/or opportunities for the situation and utilization the available biomass in
the best manner.
2. Oil palm biomass

Fig. 1. World palm oil production in 2008. Source: MPOB, 2011.

Previously, most of the researchers simply focus on the utilization of EFB (Thambirajah et al., 1995; Dayana Amira et al., 2012;

S.N. Shafawati, S. Siddiquee / International Biodeterioration & Biodegradation 85 (2013) 243e253

245

Suhaimi and Ong, 2001). Until now, there is no researcher trying to

utilize the other types of oil palm biomasses through the composting approach. Therefore, a research on composting other types
of oil palm bres such as the trunk, frond and mesocarp bres are
crucial due to reduce oil palm waste.
2.1. General characteristics of oil palm biomass
Oil palm categorize as the agro-based resource which are
renewable, widely distributed, locally available, mold-able, anisotropic, hydroscopic, recyclable, versatile, non-abrasive, porous,
easily available in many forms, biodegradable, combustible, compostable and reactive. It has a high aspects ratio, high strength to
weight ratio, relatively low in energy conversion and have good
insulation properties (sounds, electrical and thermal). The general
bre structure is hollow, laminated with molecular layers and an
integrated matrix (Rowell et al., 2000). Only 10% of oil palm tree
counted as the crude palm oil and the rest are categorized as waste
(Fig. 2). General biomass of oil palm included the oil palm trunks
(OPT) and fronds (OPF), kernel shell, empty fruit bunch (EFB),
pressed fruit bre or mesocarp bre and palm oil mill efuent
(POME) (Fig. 3) (Ridzuan et al., 2002; Mohammad et al., 2012;
Najafpour et al., 2007; Pumiput et al., 2008; Sridhar and
AdeOluwa, 2009; Mohammad et al., 2012). These products are
not only underutilized but frequently causes major air pollution
due to open burning held in eld (Ridzuan et al., 2002; Najafpour
et al., 2007).
The most treatment of EFB is through soil mulching, boiler fuel
and incineration, but the rest of them left unused in the oil palm
mills (Ma et al., 1993; Rodriguez et al., 2008). While burning is
prohibited due to the environment issue, transportation and distribution of EFB in the plantation is getting more expensive due to
the current labour shortage (Suhaimi and Ong, 2001). Soil mulching
is another solution to reduce EFB (Hamdan et al., 1998). In addition,
EFB are used as fertilizer by placed surround the young palm to help
in controlling weeds, prevent erosion and maintain soil moisture
(Suhaimi and Ong, 2001). However, studies done by Amal et al.
(2008) found that unsystematic discharge of EFB can cause the
additional methane emission to the atmosphere. Production of
bre-board and particle-board using the biomass waste of oil palm

Fig. 3. Wastes, residues and byproducts from palm tree. Source: Sridhar and
AdeOluwa, 2009.

agreed to be less effective due to the high cost of production

(Baharuddin et al., 2010). Since current solutions are less effective
in reducing oil palm waste, composting seen as the most successful
strategy for sustainable recycling of organic waste (Fermor, 1993;
Tuomela et al., 2009).
2.2. Empty fruit bunch (EFB)
Fibrousity of EFB promotes aerobic condition (Suhaimi and Ong,
2001) and they sticking together to form vascular bundles (Sridhar
and AdeOluwa, 2009). EFB contained approximately 45e80% of
cellulose (Menon et al., 2003; Sridhar and AdeOluwa, 2009), and
25e35% of hemicelluloses and lignin (Sridhar and AdeOluwa,
2009). A high proportion of cellulosic matter existed which is
easily decomposed by a combination of chemical, chemical and
biological process (Thambirajah et al., 1995). It consisted 70% of
moisture, 30% of solids; 65.5% of holocellulose, 21.2% of lignin, 3.5%
of ash, 5.6% of hot water soluble substances and 4.1% of alcoholbenzene soluble, respectively (Mohamad et al., 2002).
2.3. Oil palm frond (OPF)
OPF have been used as a substitute for tropical grasses by
ruminant producers in Malaysia. It is daily available at all times
when it is pruned during the harvesting of fresh fruit bunch (FFB)
for the production of oil palm. Nowadays, OPF is left rotting between row of oil palm tree for the sake of soil conservation, erosion
control and longtime benet of nutrient cycling (Abu Hassan et al.,
2001). In addition, OPF also used as the source of roughage for
ruminants while a substitute for grass to enhance the growth of
beef cattle and dairying (Wan Zahari et al., 2003). Mohammad
Izzuddin (2008) found the OPF also can become an alternative
source of pulp and paper production materials. Furthermore,
studies by Krittipon and Orathai (2011) discover the potential and
suitability of using OPF and glycerol in pelletizing process for
combustion and used as energy source.
2.4. Oil palm trunk (OPT)

Fig. 2. Products from oil mill process. Source: Lorestani, 2006.

Felled palm trunks represent one of the most important biomass

resources in Malaysia and Indonesia (Sumathi et al., 2008; Shuit
et al., 2009) and 15.2 million tons of oil palm trunks generated
annually in Malaysia (Fadzilah et al., 2009). Due to replanting

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S.N. Shafawati, S. Siddiquee / International Biodeterioration & Biodegradation 85 (2013) 243e253

activities, large quantities of OPT generated. Bole length of felled

palm trunk is in the range of 7e13 m, with a diameter of 45e65 cm
measured at the breast height. The oil palm trunks which increases
in height over time, also incurs costs both in the harvesting and
replanting process (Mohamad et al., 2002). Harvesting of fruits is
difcult when the tree grown too tall. Furthermore, the maintain oil
quality and productivity oil palm trees are usually replanted in
every 25 years (Lim et al., 1997; Yamada et al., 2010) though they
can still produce fruits with high yields. Sadly, there is no systematic management of the trunks. Most of the oil palm trunk burned
at the plantation site for faster disposal (Tay et al., 2013).
Oil palm trunk has high composition of starch and total sugar
(Hashim et al., 2011) and 3.35 million of starch expected can be obtained from 13.97 million tons of felled oil palm trunk (Ng et al., 2011;
Hng et al., 2011). Therefore, most of the recent studies on oil palm
trunk concentrate on the production of bioethanol (Yeoh et al., 2001;
Chin et al., 2010; Jung et al., 2011). Parenchyma (PA) and vascular
bundle (VB) are the two morphologically distinct component found
in cellulosic residues from oil palm trunk (Akhmar and Kennedy,
2001; Hashim et al., 2011; Panida et al., 2012).
3. Composting of oil palm biomass
Composting is a continuous process of reducing the organic
substances into smaller volumes happens under natural or
controlled conditions involve decomposition process till the ratio of
carbon to other elements are equal in the same time providing
nutrients to plants in the absorbable condition (Sharma et al., 1997).
In Thailand, composting is the most favoured options to manage the
solid waste of oil palm industry (Wathida et al., 2011). Biomasses
are the suitable raw material for recycling because it is produced in
large quantities in localized areas. Main aim of composting is to
have a quality end product and it begins as soon as the wastes
generated (Chiu-Chung et al., 2005). It is the interdependent bioprocess of transforming organic matter to useful products through
the decomposition of organic matter by the action of various organisms; micro and macro-organism afliate with reclamation,
recycling, treatment and disposal wastes from natural sources
(Chiu-Chung et al., 2005). In short, composting involve bioconversion process of an organic waste substrate into stable organic end
product (Molla et al., 2002).
There are few main factors which may able to affecting the
composting process; temperature, carbon to nitrogen ratio, aeration (percentage of oxygen), moisture content, porosity and pH
(Table 2). British Columbia Agricultural Composting Handbook
(1998) had simplied the basic stages of conventional composting
process (Fig. 4).
Most of studies in compost of oil palm waste using EFB as the
substrate because showed a great result in improving the soil
quality (Lim and Zaharah, 2002). Conventional composting of EFB is
introduced to Malaysian farmers by the Department of Agriculture
of Malaysia by mixing EFB together with 20% of chicken manure
and fermented in a boxes covered with plastic but it took almost
one year to be matured. Later, some improvement made on the

Table 2
Factors affecting the composting process (Alexander, 1994).
Factors

Acceptable range

Temperature
Carbon to Nitrogen Ratio (C:N)
Aeration (Percentage of Oxygen)
Moisture Content
Porosity
pH

54e60  C
25:1e30:1
>5%
50e60%
30e36%
6.5e7.5

Fig. 4. Material ow for conventional composting process (British Columbia

Agricultural Composting Handbook, 1998).

process; changed into big piles open compost and the heap mixed
regularly in a month. The result is very good and took only 4
months to reach maturity (Damanhuri, 1998).
Studies by Hamdan et al. (1998) showed the natural decomposition of EFB in oil palm plantation is done by spreading the EFB in
the eld as mulch on top of nylon net at specic rate: 30, 60 and
90 mt/ha/year. Spots for nitrogen supplementations are selected at
each EFB application rate to achieved various C:N ratio of 15, 30
and 60 (Control) to 1 part of Nitrogen. Approximately 10 months
needed to complete decomposition process and the weight of
remaining EFB on the nylon net used to estimate the rate of
decomposition.
Compost is considered matured enough when it reached stable
30  C heap temperature and the pH value is about 4.5e6.0. Sizes of
substrates also played a vital role when a studied done by using
varying fractions (2,4,8 and whole bunch fractions) and then mix
with chicken dung in ratio 3:1 with 3 parts of EFB and 1 part of
chicken dung. In the rst week, high moisture content, pH, C:N
ratio, Mg, Ca and P found in all heap compared to the 10th weeks of
composting period. Structured and colours changed; slightly black,
crumbly and loose for the 8 partition compost while for others
changed to dark brown colour (Agharan, 1984).
For the large scale compost project they used tractors to turned
the compost for agitation and mixing process. In an hour, about
15 m3 of compost can be turned (Damanhuri, 1998). Through the
studies, percentage of nal products of compost will be 3.3 total
nitrogen, 0.05 phosphates, 0.2 K, 1.0 Ca and 0.2 Mg.
C:N ratio differs between compost depended on the ratio of
substrate (EFB) and the manure. Research done by Thambirajah
et al. (1995) concluded after 60 days of composting EFB composted with manure of chicken, goat and cattle had a C:N ratio of
12:1, 14:1 and 18:1, respectively while the control showed higher
C:N ratio, 1:24.
AdeOluwa (2005) come up with a formula; the mixture of 60: 40
ratio of EFB and cow dung is the best portion for the rapid maturation of compost where it can reach maturity in 5 weeks. Soaked
EFB has lower nutrient element except for N, P and S probably due
to the leaching of the elements during soaking process. Compost of
EFB also showed higher girth (0.71 cm) and index dry leaf weight
(0.33 g) compared to the oil palm seedlings with urea treatment
(0.44 cm and 0.13 g, respectively).
The application of EFB together with nitrogen (N) and potassium
(K) fertilizers shown the improvement in nitrogen and potassium
level in leaf, improve soil exchangeable K, Ca, Mg and pH. The level
of Mg found to be decreased with the additional of EFB. Frequency
of fertilizers added found no affect the leaf nutrient levels and yield
of oil palm (Lim and Zaharah, 2002). Most of the end products of
compost are water, organic and inorganic matter. These end
products are able to utilize by plant. Ash from inorganic component
increases due to the loss of organic fraction or volatile solid as CO2.
Only 65e99% of feedstock is volatile solids. Approximately, 20% of
the organic materials are decomposed into water and CO2 (Verma
et al., 2007).

S.N. Shafawati, S. Siddiquee / International Biodeterioration & Biodegradation 85 (2013) 243e253

Three different formulation of compost consisted oil palm frond,

chicken manure and rice bran had the same initial temperature;
30  C and rose to maximum temperature 56  C on the 3, 4 and 6
days of composting. However, as the composting period ends, the
temperature decline to 31  C. Moisture content of all compost
ranged between 24% and 19%. Electrical conductivity (EC) found
lower in the early stage of composting (1.52e2.02 dS/m) and
slightly higher as the compost reached it maturity (2.98 dS/m). The
C/N ratio is varies for compost A, B and C; 15.79, 20.54 and 21.34,
respectively (Erwan Ismail et al., 2012).
Vargas-Garcia et al. (2005) suggested agricultural waste as the
substrates for the preservation and growing of lignocellulolytic
fungi. Many types of composted materials has shown to suppress
diseases including the hardwood bark (Chef et al., 1983; Trillas-Gay
et al., 1986) pine bark (Ceboola and Pera, 1983; Orlikowski,
1983,Pera and Calvet, 1989) poplar bark (Garibaldi, 1988), wood
shavings (Ceboola and Pera, 1983) cork and grape marc (Trillas
et al., 2002) sewage sludges (Cotxarrera et al., 2002) and vermicompost (Garibaldi, 1988; Szczech et al., 1993; Szczech, 1999).
Since biomasses are categorized as the woody materials, composting always labelled as the time consuming process. This is due
to the high lignocellulosic and hard biodegradable substances such
as lignin and hemicellulose owned by the oil palm biomass itself
(Wathida et al., 2011). Therefore, a genus of fungi known as Trichoderma sp. suggested being use in composting to help in wood
degradation as it can act well as biocontrol agent.
4. Trichoderma sp.
Chemical pesticides industries have created the decrease of
environment quality standard. Nowadays, fungal biological control
agents become the most well-known control agent used in agricultural eld due to their ability in controlling disease and higher
production yield. To compete with the chemical pesticides, proper
selection of suitable species microorganism is crucial in determining fungis ability and specialty in degrading wood. Naturally,
some microorganisms and insects play their important role as the
biological control agents and through research and innovation, the
commercial value of these bioagents has been raised. As shown in
Fig. 5, Trichoderma sp. based biological control agents commercially
viable as numerous commercial products exist in market. Mostly all
available Trichoderma sp. based BCA products contain spores as
active ingredients (Punja and Utkhede, 2003; Batta, 2004a,b).
Fungi are well known with its special ability to degrade lignin in
woody material. They metabolize wood polysaccharides and

247

produced an array of cellulolytic and hemicellulolytic activities

which can contribute to the degradation of plant cell wall material
(Copping and Menn, 2000). Fungi can tolerate wide range of temperature, pH, dryness, oxygen concentrations, ultraviolet radiation
and unfavourable environmental condition (Beata, 2007).
According to Verma et al. (2007), Trichoderma sp. has high potential as antagonistic fungi but slower biocontrol pathogenic
bacteria action in comparison to bacteria (Table 3). These antagonists of this fungus are dependent on the faster metabolic rates,
anti-microbial metabolites, and physiological conrmation. Optimization on few factors such as distribution of inoculums at
infected sites, concentration of inoculums, specicity towards
pathogens, environmental conditions and enrich medium should
be considered due to exploit maximum strategies of mycoparasitism, antibiosis and competition. It possesses antibacterial action
based on their antibiotic compounds produced (Itoh et al., 1980;
Stipanovic and Howell, 1983; Liss et al., 1985; Hanson and
Howell, 2002; Manczinger et al., 2002; Utkhede and Koch, 2004).
Trichoderma sp. are well known for its antagonistic properties
against several soil-phytopathogen, include fungi, invertebrates
and bacteria, act as plant growth enhancer, biocontrol agents,
biopesticides and bioherbicides and the growth promotional activities of Trichoderma sp. (Fig. 6) as describe by Verma et al. (2007).
These fungi exert strong competitive effects for space and nutrients
and produce toxin against phytopathogenic species, thus nominate
them as a good biocontrol agent (Mohamad Zainuddin and Faridah,
2008). Studies by Siddiquee et al. (2009) in their research found
Trichoderma harzianum has good antagonist properties against
Ganoderma boninense; the main cause of basal stem rot (BSR) disease among oil palm plantation in Malaysia. Due to their production of antifungal metabolites, competition for space and nutrients,
and mycoparasitism, Trichoderma sp. are the best used as the biological control agent against several plant pathogenic fungi
(Siddiquee et al., 2012).
4.1. Application of Trichoderma sp. in compost
According to Weltzein (1991) and Hoitink et al. (1997) compost
as the alternative ways for controlling disease against fungal
pathogens had been studied extensively. In composting, colonization is a must during the curing process in order not to be destroyed
by the thermophilic phase of composting process. Biocontrol activities of some microorganisms are seen as advantages when it
acts as an enhancer to plant nutrition. Additional of several types
of Trichoderma sp. fungi proven helps in the improvement of

Table 3
Comparison between Bacteria and Trichoderma spp. based BCAs (Source: Verma
et al., 2007).

Fig. 5. Trichoderma spp. based biofungicide market statistics. Other biofungicides

include bacteria, nematodes and virus. The market is based on scattered data of
registered biofungicides. Source: Verma et al., 2007.

Trichoderma spp.

Bacteria

Usually mode of action

on pest/weeds through
contact (Harman et al., 2004).
Mass production normally
by solid state fermentation
(Jenskins et al., 1998).
Limited reported uses and
market exploitation
(Whipps and Lumsden, 2001).
Promote general plant
growth and nutrition
too (Harman et al., 2004).
Widely exploited in
bioremediation methods
recalcitrant (Katayama and
Matsumura, 1991).

Mode of action on pests through

ingestion (Tirado-Montiel et al., 2001).
Mass production normally by liquid
fermentation (Tirado-Montiel et al.,
2001).
Have been used extensively in eld
(Duffy et al., 1997).
Many have been reported as plant
growth enhancer, rhizobium (Nakkeeran
et al., 2005).
Limited use in bioremediation of
recalcitrant (Wong et al., 1995).

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S.N. Shafawati, S. Siddiquee / International Biodeterioration & Biodegradation 85 (2013) 243e253

Fig. 6. Growth promotional activities of Trichoderma spp. Indirect: (a) mycoparasitism, (b) Competition; direct: (c) Mycelia growth around plant rhizosphere and production of
metabolites. Source: Verma et al., 2007.

colonization process, increased the yield of plant, effective in disease control and combination with bacterial biocontrol agents or
other benecial microorganisms promising a better control in plant
(Singh, 1991; Ristaino et al., 1991; Elad and Shtienberg, 1994;
Jinantana, 1995; De Ceuster and Hoitink, 1999; Ibrahim, 2005;
Srivastava et al., 2010; Bernard et al., 2012). Compost with Trichoderma sp. isolates proven to be effective when it showed low disease severity in plants treated with compost suggesting that
application of extracts produced from well-matured compost fortied with biocontrol agents could be an alternative control strategy (Siddiqui et al., 2008).
Trichoderma sp. formulation labelled as biological control in the
experiment conducted by Dukare et al. (2011) found high pre
emergence disease, post emergence disease and disease severity
with 53.34%, 42.8% and 48.1%, respectively. In vitro test proceeds by
Gajera and Vakharia (2010) discovered Trichoderma viride and T.
harzianum are able to inhibit the growth of Aspergillus niger by
86.2% and 80.4%.
Trichoderma sp. maintained good antagonistic ability against
some plant pathogenic fungi such as Fusarium, Pythium, Rhizotonia
and Sclerotinia species (Kredics et al., 2003). T. harzianum decreased

disease caused by Sclerotium rolfsii and Rhizoctonia solani in eld

experiment with three types of plants; beans, cotton and tomato
(Elad et al., 1980) and showed great potential against Fusarium
oxysporum (Lopez et al., 2011). Trichoderma asperellum have the
potential in biocontrol against Fusarium wilt (Cotxarrera et al.,
2002; Sant et al., 2010) and showed antagonistic effects on
Pythim myriotylum; a major threat to cocoyam cultivation through
the growth inhibition more than 60% and the infection caused by
P. myriotylum by 50%; strengthen the facts of mycoparasites potential of Trichoderma sp. (Mbarga et al., 2012). Affokpon et al.
(2011) in their studies discovered the T. asperellum able to inhibit
the nematode production, suppress the root galling and increased
the yield of tomato by 30%.
Sant et al. (2010) in their experiment observed fresh weight of
plant growth the T. asperellum (T34) amended media is higher by
23.31 g compared to uninfested medium, 19.76 g. The presence of
T34 also affects the height of oral stem where it grown taller than
uninfested medium (41.22 cm and 40.92 cm). Cotxarrera et al.
(2002) using two strains of T. asperellum named TI and TII proved
success to reduce disease incidence caused by Fusarium wilt of
tomato to from 90% to 13% and 5% also from 55% to 23% and 23%,

S.N. Shafawati, S. Siddiquee / International Biodeterioration & Biodegradation 85 (2013) 243e253

respectively in Chateaurenard soil. Compared to Fo47 (non-pathogenic biocontrol agent F. oxysporum), disease severity and incidence
are higher for T. asperellum isolates in Chateaurenard soil.
Cotxarrera et al. (2002) reported the isolate of T. asperellum is more
effective when re-added to the compost from which they are
originally come from. This statement agreed by Hoitink and Boehm
(1999) by suggesting the degree of colonization of Trichoderma sp.
isolates and the changes in metabolism might affects their interaction with the pathogens.
As reported by Trillas-Gay et al. (1986) and Larkin and Fravel
(1999) suppression of T. asperellum towards Fusarium wilt is
higher compared to other species of Trichoderma. Studies by Trillas
et al. (2006) cork compost and olive mark compost inoculated with
T. asperellum (T34) signicantly reduced the disease caused by
R. solani occurs in cucumber seedlings by 53% and 76%, respectively
after 0.5e1 year when starting the composting process. On the
other hand, compost of spent mushroom, ne cork compost mix
with rice hulls had almost the same disease incidence in the range
of 80e90%. However, there are no correlations between chemical
composition of plant growth media and the level of suppressiveness of disease fungi. Compost in the age of 1.5e2 years showed
almost similar suppressiveness towards R. solani within 3e29% of
disease incidence. For the compost with 1.5e3 years, the present of
T34 signicantly reduced the R. solani disease to only 5e9% and 3e
15% of disease incidence in olive marc compost and spent mushroom compost, respectively. There is signicant difference in the
disease incidence between cork compost and grape marc compost
for 1.5e3 years of compost. Older compost showed better disease
suppressiveness. All compost aged below one year able to show T34
suppressiveness, but biological control roles and disease reduction
expressed by T34 showed in all compost aged 1.5e3 years. Some
researchers (Nelson et al., 1983; Kuter et al., 1988; Hoitink and
Boehm, 1999; Diab et al., 2003) agreed the degree of maturity is
essentials in order to reduce disease caused by R. solani.
Mycelia do affects the antagonistic activity of T. asperellum
through the direct action towards the pathogen hypae. Therefore,
enough mycelia counts are needed in order to assure antagonistic
actions in the best level. Wijesinghe et al. (2011) found the optimum concentration of T. asperellum needed to ght against Th.
paradoxa is 1  107 conidia/ml.
Using the various pH in the growth medium, the experiment
proved the different in pH are not affect the dry weight of Trichoderma virens. It has the ability to grow at various pH conditions
without any problem. Both Amaranthus retroexus and S. viridis
seeds ends treats with T. virens ended with necrosis; concluded that
T. virens had parasitized the weed species. Acidic high nutrient
substrate for the production of viridiol found to be essential in
determining mycoherbicidal action of T. virens. Hutchinson (1999)
also determined about 14 days of inoculation needed for the
higher viridiol production for the mycoherbicidal actions. The facts
proved when the production of viridiol by T. virens on chicken
compost manure (CCM) mix with eld soil tested and the results
shows after 10 days of incorporation, T. virens with high nutrient
and also high viridiol produced of 24.9 mg viridiol. Additional of 15%
T. virens with CCM proved to reduce A. retroexus, Portulaca oleracea
L., Minthostachys verticillata, Abutilon theophrasti Medik, and Echinochloa crus-galli L. by 77% and 68% of week emergence after 8
weeks of incorporation. T. virens able to enhance the root dry
weight when a higher root dry weight recorded by using high
nutrient T. virens on corn (105.0 g) and 102.6 g) on cucumber.
The additional of T. virens had shortened 60.9% of composting
period in comparison to compost without the inoculants (Dayana
Amira et al., 2012). Furthermore, rapid degradation related to the
high xylanase and cellulase production detected in compost inoculated with T. virens. Compost inoculated with T. virens has higher

249

nitrogen (1.304%), phosphorus (0.543%) and potassium content

(0.645%). This might be due to the enhanced decomposition of
organic matter by fungi, the released of potassium PO
4 ions from
humic colloids into systems (Pramanik et al., 2007), the increased of
nitrate nitrogen concentration (NO3eN) at the end of the composting process and less phosphorus lost by volatilization or
lixiviation and increased of phosphorus content during composting
process (Young et al., 2005).
However, the combinations of two or more suitable biocontrol
agents assure better results (Trillas-Gay et al., 1986; Abo-Elyousr
et al., 2009). The combination between biological control agents
(BCA) and resistance inducers (RI) depicted a very bright future for
compost industries. Studies done by Abo-Elyousr et al. (2009) in all
treatment whether single or combination shows reduction in disease incidence, increased the percentage of germination, enhanced
fresh weights and enhanced the weight of fresh and dry weight of
seedlings. The treatment of compost contained T. harzianum (TZ)
together with salicyclic acid (SA) showed the highest reduction in
disease incidence (78.8%), increased the percentage of germination
(149.8%), and enhanced fresh weights (303.6%) and dry weights
seedlings (275%). Combination of Trichoderma hamatum (TM),
Paecilomyces lilacinus (PL), salicyclic acid (SA), thiadiazole-7carbothionic acid S-methyl ester (BTH) and T. hamatum (TM),
P. lilacinus (PL), and thiadiazole-7-carbothionic acid S-methyl ester
(BTH) show a great reduction in disease incidence.
According to Haddadin et al. (2002), the used of mix microorganism; T. harzianum and Phanerochaete chrysosporium in compost
of olive pomace faster the composting time and maturity degree
when the compost achieved its maturity in only 50 days. Compost
considered reaching it maturity when it reached constant temperature, dark brown and black in colour, consistent in size, ne
and soft texture and no unpleasant odour released. T. harzianum is
good cellulose producers (Haddadin et al., 1999). In 30 days,
T. harzianum able to degrade 59.24% of cellulose inside the olive
pomace compost. Lignocellulosics such as lignin and cellulose are
the main barrier in degradation of organic matters; therefore the
addition of microorganism will enhanced the process (Barrington
et al., 2002). As reported by Sharma et al. (1999) and Singh and
Sharma (2002), the used of T. harzianum helped in rapid composting. Since composting transform substrates into smaller size
and larger surface area, the negative charges carried by the functional groups able to be release easily. These phenomena are
actually great opportunity for the smoother cations absorption
(Haddadin et al., 2002).
Experiment conducted by Srivastava et al. (2010) with the
approach using T. harzianum, orescent Pseudomonas and Glomus
intraradices against F. oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici reported induce
systemic resistance in plants. All bio-agents used found to be more
effective than single bio-agent treatment by reducing the incidence
of wilt in pot (74%) and eld trial (67%), found signicantly better
control compared to uninoculated treatment, increase yield by 20%
and increase weight of fresh shoot, dry shoot and the length of
tomato shoot. Combination of all three bio-agents showed the
highest plant height in 45 and 60 days of treatment done in year
2006 with 52.41 and 53.70 cm, and treatment done in 2007 with
54.31 and 55.06 cm in height, respectively when compared to
single bio-agents treatment. Additional of cow dung compost is
successfully reduced disease and improved yield in all treatments.
Through seed bio-priming method, seed germination found to
signicantly increase about 22e48% with the combine application
of T. harzianum and orescent Pseudomonas. Days required for
germination is decreased to 2.0e2.5 days only.
Heraux et al. (2005) reporting their treatment work done in year
1997 and 1998 in Lafayette, Indiana by using compost chicken
manure (CCM) inoculated with T. virens showed the low number of

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weeds dry weight (48 g per m2; 102 g per m2) compared to using
CCM alone (222 g per m2; 129 g per m2) and herbicides
(344 g per m2; 1 g per m2) in 1997 and 1998, respectively. Fruit
tomato yields in 1997 treatment also found to be higher (1.93 kg/
plant) compared to CCM (1.58 kg/plant) and herbicides (1.41 kg/
plant). In 2008, higher (4.74 kg/plant) by using both CCM and
T. virens (3.97 kg/plant) by using CCM alone and 5.12 kg/plant by
using herbicides. The emergence of broadleaf weeds in tomato
reduced to 44 weeds per m2 compared to CCM without fungi and
herbicides; 93 weeds per m2 and 80 weeds per m2 in 1997
treatment. In treatment done in 1998, combination of CCM and
T. virens showed a great reduce in broadleaf weeds with only
19 weeds per m2 using both CCM and T. virens. In another treatment
in 1997 tested on pumpkin using the combination of rye, CCM and
inoculated with T. virens showed the lowest presence of weeds; 39
and 40 m2 in the treatment done on the next following year. Total
yields and mean fruit weight for treatments done in 1997 and 1998,
showed positive results; 58.6, 8.5, 56.9 and 7.7 kg, respectively. The
addition of T. virens into CMM showed potential in inhibiting the
growth of weeds and increased the yield of tomato and pumpkins.
Trichoderma is very good enzyme producer such as cellulases,
hemicellulases, proteases and b-1, 3-glucanase (Kredics et al., 2003;
Verma et al., 2007). Recent studies done by Dayana Amira et al. (2012)
showed substantiate the combination of T. virens and chicken
manure as the source of organic nitrogen gave positive result on the
composting of EFB and POME. The application of T. virens may lead
rapid degradation of cellulose and hemicelluloses and shows a great
potential in shortening the composting period using Aspergillus and
Trichoderma (Biswas and Narayanasamy, 2002).
Seed germination of tomato found to increase 22e48% and less
time needed for germination process (2.0e2.5 days) when applied
with T. harzianum and uorescent Pseudomonas (Srivastava et al.,
2010). Shoot fresh, dry weights, numbers of owers and buds are
increased with the application of T. harzianum tested for few types
of plants including the petunia marigold and verbena (Ousley et al.,
1994).
Combinations of two or more bioagents found to be highly
effective in increasing the yield and reduced disease and severity,
compared to single isolates and the incidence of wilt in post and
eld trials found to be reduced (Srivastava et al., 2010). The application of Trichoderma sp. together with few specic resistance inducers increased the consistency of suppression of root rot cotton
seedlings caused by F. oxysporum and Pythium debryanum (AboElyousr et al., 2009). Due to its ability to produce metabolites
which contain peroxidises and laccase enzyme, it is preferable
to apply Trichoderma sp. in bioremediation (Katayama and
Matsumura, 1991; Karam and Nicell, 1997).
Previous study by Hermosa et al. (2000) documented
T. harzianum have potential antagonistic properties against several
pathogenic fungi such as Polymyxa betae, Rosellinia necatrix,
Botrytis cinerea and F. oxysporum f. sp. dianthia. Studies by Siddiquee
et al. (2009) in their experiment on the potential of T. harzianum for
antagonistic properties against G. boninense showed a high percentage of inhibition radial growth (PIRG) (58.69%) in 6 days.
T. harzianum also released non-volatile compounds when this
fungus has inhibiting the growth of G. boninense by 40.16%. Mycoparasitism of T. harzianum towards G. boninense is briey described
by Siddiquee et al. (2009) as the interaction where T. harzianum
attached itself to the host, coil and strangulate the host hypae and
form apppressoria and hautoria on the host surface.
5. Benets of composting
It is proven that compost can increase water holding capacity
and provides better tilts. Nowadays, the function of composts are

widen; soil amendment, pollution prevention and control, erosion

control, contaminants clean up, remediation of soils contaminated
with heavy metals (Ndegwa, 1999). Composting can increase crop
production due to its high plant nutrient content and moisture
retention characteristics, improve chemical properties due to the
specialty that organic material; can serve as long-term contaminated soils amendments (Dayana Amira et al., 2012) and sustain
biological control agents better than imperfect compost which
negatively inuencing the development of crop plants and possible
containing pathogens (De Ceuster and Hoitink, 1999; Litterick et al.,
2004) and become the reason of plant retardation due to nitrogen
starvation, anaerobic condition and photo-toxicity of NH3 and some
organic acid (Lhadi et al., 2006).
6. Impact of composting to the environment and economic
Malaysian oil palm industry continues having a great demand of
palm oil. Therefore, composting seen as the most favoured solution
to reduce waste and at the same time produce at valuable and
quality end products. Composting is well-known for its variety of
options in waste management especially in oil palm industry. Thus
the composting processes succeed within 60 days and the cost is
inexpensive, there is no doubt composting in enhanced the economic value.
7. Conclusions
Since Malaysian oil palm industry is getting bigger; expecting
higher the waste produce by the industry. As a solution, composting is an alternative way to reduce the wastes. However, composting process is much dependent on the soil texture and the
microbial organisms, control parameters such as pH, temperature
C: N ratio and total oxygen dissolve. Using specic Trichoderma
species in compost is broaden; not only use as the soil enhancer but
also used as the accelerator for rapid composting, control plant
disease, higher the production yield, biocontrol, biopesticides,
bioherbicides, enzymes producer, toxin producer against phytopathogenic species, exert strong competitive effect for space and
nutrients and able to degrade woody materials. Thus, there is no
doubt in application of Trichoderma specic-species isolate is used
for rapid composting of oil palm bres.
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful for the nancial support provided by
the Biotechnology Research Institute through Seed money under
this research project.
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