Morphological and Molecular Characteristics of Endophytic Fungi in Sugarcane as Antagonists of the Pathogen Fusarium sacchari

Fusarium sacchari is a pathogenic fungus that causes the pokkah boeng disease in sugarcane plants. The symptoms of pokkah boeng disease are systemic, spreading throughout all parts of the plant. The control measures implemented so far still rely on synthetic pesticides but have not yielded optimal results and are not environmentally friendly. One of the environmentally friendly control methods is the use of endophytic fungi. Endophytic fungi live within plant tissues without causing disease symptoms. This research aims to discover endophytic fungi derived from sugarcane and evaluate their ability to suppress the growth of the pathogen F. sacchari. The research began with the isolation of sugarcane tissue, followed by the morphological and molecular characterization of endophytic fungi and testing their inhibitory capacity against the pathogen F. sacchari. Morphological identification was based on colony and microscopic characteristics, while molecular identification was conducted using PCR and sequencing, with similarities based on GenBank. Inhibition tests were conducted through dual culture and volatile compound testing, as well as enzyme production. The research results obtained 38 endophytic fungal isolates from sugarcane plants that have the ability to inhibit the pathogen F. sacchari. Five of these isolates showed the highest inhibition against F. sacchari and produced cellulase, protease, and chitinase enzymes. Molecular identification results indicated that these five-sugarcane endophytic fungal isolates are Daldinia eschscholdzii, Hypoxylon pulicicidum, Trichoderma virens, Trichoderma harzianum, and Diaporthe phaseolorum. The endophytic fungus T. harzianum provides the highest inhibition rate of 83.33% in dual culture and 55.5% inhibition through the production of volatile compounds. Keywords: Endophytic fungi, inhibitory power, Fusarium sacchari, morphological characteristics, molecular characteristics, pokkah boeng disease, sugarcane plants.