Critique Paper
Tomato (Solanum Lycopersicum L.) is frequently exposed to several fungal
pathogens, including Fusarium oxysporum, Alternaria solani, Phytophthora infestans,
Verticillium dahliae, and Sclerotium rolfsii, which affect plant growth and yield
(Sanoubar and Barbanti, 2017). Of these, Fusarium oxysporum f. sp.
lycopersici causes Fusarium wilt of tomato. This study was undertaken to evaluate
the effects of T. harzianum and/or T. viride in reducing Fusarium wilt and to
determine the relationship between disease severity and plant growth-promoting
traits of these species, and their efficacy in promoting growth and yield, biochemical
and antioxidant constituents, and physiological activity of tomato under field
conditions. With a given title, “Antifungal and plant growth-promoting activity of
Trichoderma spp. against Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici colonizing tomato.”
This study was written by Arshi Jamil, an author who specializes in Plant Pathology
and Nematology, under the Department of Plant Protection, at Aligarh Muslim
University, in Aligarh, India. This article was officially received on October 11, 2020,
and was finally accepted on April 23, 2021. This article was published under the
Journal of Plant Protection Research, Vol. 61, No. 3: 243–253, 2021.
Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici is one of the most prevalent soil-borne
disease that destroys plant roots, resulting in tomato yield losses. This kind of
pathogen is host-specific and produces typical disease symptoms like stunting,
yellowing, necrosis of older leaves, browning of vascular tissue, and loss of the
plant’s rigidity. The severity of the disease depends on the cultivar’s resistance and
the conditions of the environment. The pathogen disseminates through infested soils,
contaminated seeds, infected transplants, and aerial dispersal of the conidia. The
capability of the pathogen to persist for a long time in the soil as spores and the
emergence of new pathogenic races makes the management of disease quite
challenging.
Usage of synthetic chemicals has effectively prevented Fusarium wilt, but the
persistence of synthetic chemicals in soil and their detrimental impact on the plant,
the environment, and the soil micro-biome is concerning. However, biological control
of plant diseases with micro-organisms, called biocontrol agents, maybe a more
feasible alternatives in eliminating the pathogen than synthetic fungicides. Adopting
biological control measures for managing plant diseases is a promising, economic,
and environmentally safer method. Hence, two selected Trichoderma species, T.
harzianum (MTCC 9288) and T. viride (MTCC 3180), were examined against tomato
wilt pathogen, F. oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici. Both Trichoderma species were
screened for their ability to stimulate tomato growth.
At the end of the process, treatment with both T. viride and T.
harzianum showed promising effects in lessening disease severity and enhancing
plant growth and yield through the production of pathogen degrading enzymes and
improved physiological activity. Pathogen-infested plants reduce the antioxidant
quantity of tomato fruit. However, during both years of treatment, the highest
lycopene contents recorded showed an increase of 62.89 and 60.42%, and vitamin
C content exhibiting 45.03% and 42.76% increase was found in fruits harvested from
plots where T. viride was applied as a seed treatment. In treatment, T. viride as soil
application was the second-best treatment that significantly increased the antioxidant
content in tomatoes and was followed by T. harzianum seed treatment and T.
harzianum soil application. Tomato plants treated with T. viride and T.
harzianum showed improved net photosynthetic rates (PN), stomatal conductance
(gs), and transpiration rates (E) when compared to the untreated control. Increased
plant growth by enhancing leaf chlorophyll level leading to a higher degree of
photosynthetic activity, was also observed.
Even though both Trichoderma spp. increased plant growth, T. viride stood
superior over T. harzianum. Trichoderma viride provided better antagonism since it
produced larger transparent halos indicating better cellulase, chitinase and protease
production than the latter. Meanwhile, T. harzianum did not show any ligninase
production and displayed phosphate solubilization only on Pikovskaya’s medium
mixed with Ca3 (PO4)2 while T. viride could solubilize phosphate from both Ca3
(PO4)2 and FePO4. HCN production was recorded in T. viride. It produced two types
of siderophores (hydroxamate and carboxylate), whereas T. harzianum only
produced hydroxamate-type siderophore.
In conclusion, T. viride may potentially integrate with other management
strategies in lessening the damage caused by this pathogen. However, I highly
encouraged researchers to conduct further studies to explore the local strains of T.
viride, to understand it better, and to validate its performance in restraining the
activity of F. oxysporum f. sp. Lycopersici, especially in naturally infested agricultural
land.
