Normalized data showing competition in fungi (Verticillium and Trichoderma) for nitrogen forms and niche overlap as a biocontrol strategy

The deposited data were collected as part of the research project entitled: “Różnorodność fenotypowa grzybów z rodzaju Verticillium i Trichoderma a konkurencja o azot - aspekt metodyczny” (Diversity of phenotypes of Verticillium and Trichoderma in relation to nitrogen competition - methodological aspect).This study was co-funded by the National Science Centre in the frame of the MINIATURA 5 scientific activity, contract number 2021/05/X/NZ9/00341 and the National Centre for Research and Development in the frame of the EcoFruits project, contract number BIOSTRATEG3/344433/16/NCBR/2018 (strains used in the experiments are part of the EcoFruits project).Biocontrol strategies for soil rely on interactions between antagonistic and pathogenic fungi, shaped by competition, antibiosis, and parasitism, especially under nutrient stress. This study compared nitrogen use in phytopathogenic and antagonistic fungi to assess overlap and competitiveness under nutritional limitations. The functional response of different fungal isolates (respiratory and biomass production) to nitrogen-containing substrates was used to calculate niche overlap indices and estimate the competitiveness and nutritional stress between Trichoderma and Verticillium fungal species. Trichoderma isolates exhibited strong competition with Verticillium isolates for some nitrogen nutrients starting from the second day of incubation. Some nitrogenous substrates, such as putrescine and cytidine, were found to be metabolised almost only by Trichoderma, while other chemical species, such as urea and nitrite, were metabolised almost only by Verticillium. Substrates also emerged that both the pathogen and its antagonist can potentially use, but often at a different pace, and finally, compounds not used by either fungal taxa, such as hydroxylamine and ethanolamine. The calculation of comprehensive indices of niche overlap and stress in fungal strains highlighted different mechanisms of competition between pathogens and antagonists. This highlights the complex dynamics of soil fungi and offers the opportunity of exploiting some fungal ecological mechanisms in an applied context. This includes the preparation of more targeted biocontrol products, based on nitrogenous prebiotic additives.The research was conducted from 14. February 2022, to 16. March 2022, at the Institute of Agrophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences, the Department of Soil and Plant System, Laboratory of Molecular and Environmental Microbiology.The data includes sets of biological data (characteristics of fungal strains - metabolic profile). These data were obtained through the measurement of the level of nitrogen substrates located in PM3 BiologTM plate utilization by Verticillium (V) and Trichoderma (T), i.e. the respiratory response of the tested isolates resulting from substrate catabolism (colorimetric reaction) (490 nm) and the level of cell biomass growth (measured by optical density) (750 nm) within the time of plate incubation.The dataset consists of the following files:A1_PM3_590 nm - normalized data regarding research results on colorimetric reaction of isolates.A2_PM3_750 nm - normalized data regarding research results biomass growth of isolates.The data were compiled based on conducted laboratory research. The results presented in the files were obtained using research equipment: a microplate reader with a computer workstation - MicroStationTM (BiologTM Hayward, USA).