The use of arbuscular mycorrhizae (AM) to influence soil borne plant diseases is based on their ability to promote plant health and reduce the damage caused by the pathogens. AM have proved to control different pathogens – nematodes as well as parasitic fungi. We examined the protective effects induced by arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus Glomus fasciculatum against Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici causal agent of wilt disease in tomato.
The experimental design was completely randomized factorial combination of G. fasciculatum and F. o. f. sp. lycopersici. Six treatments were used: a. Con -Control -Received heat killed inoculum of AM fungus and pathogen. b. MI -AM fungus (G. fasciculatum) inoculated. c. PI -Pathogen (F. o. f. sp. lycopersici) inoculated. d. DI -Dual inoculation -F. o. f. sp. lycopersici and G. fasciculatum inoculated on the same day. e. PrI -Pre inoculation -F. o. f. sp. lycopersici inoculated 10 d prior to G. fasciculatum inoculation. f. PoI -Post inoculation -F. o. f. sp. lycopersici inoculated 10 d after G. fasciculatum inoculation. Leaf and root samples were collected for physiological and biochemical studies. The samples were randomly collected from 5 seedlings of each experiment, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60 d after inoculation. PoI and DI plants control the pathogen significantly. Increased level of chlorophyll contents, O-dihydric phenol content, total phenol content, lipid levels, protein content, total and reducing sugar, amino acid content, cytokinin and tomatine content were observed in PoI and DI plants when compared to other treatments. These biochemical changes may play a crucial role to protect tomato plants from pathogens.
Biocontrol, Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici, Glomus fasciculatum, Tomato, Wilt disease, Field trial
