Seeds are the crucial input in agriculture as most of the world food crops are grown from seeds and they are circulated at large scale in international trade. However, many plant pathogens can be seed transmitted, and seed distribution is an extremely capable way of introducing plant pathogens into fresh areas as well as a means of endurance of the pathogen between growing seasons. In past decades, chemicals are widely used for seed treatment as a potent approach towards disease control; however, rising concern about their negative impact on the environment and human health minimizes their use and promotes biological control for plant pathogens. Biopriming is a currently popular approach of seed treatment which includes inoculation of seed with beneficial microorganisms (biological aspect) and seed hydration (physiological aspect) to protect the seed from various seed-and soilborne diseases. Biopriming treatment is able to incite changes in plant characteristics and facilitate uniform seed germination and growth associated with microorganism inoculation. Seed priming and osmo-priming are commonly being used in many horticultural crops to amplify the growth and uniformity of germination. However, it may be used alone or in combination with biocontrol agents to advance the rate of seed emergence and minimize soilborne diseases. On the other hand, some biocontrol agents are used as seed dressers and are able to colonize the rhizosphere, helping seeds to resist various abiotic stresses
Effi cient biological control of plant diseases involves successful interactions among plant, biocontrol agents, and pathogens. Trichoderma spp. being the most popular and successful biocontrol agents are predominantly used to protect plants against a broad range of phytopathogens. However, a better understanding of the tripartite relationship established among Trichoderma -plantpathogen is necessary in order to advance the practical applicability in agroecosystems and to unveil the cross talk involved in this benefi cial association. Moreover, comprehensive knowledge of this three-way association is also required to identify the effective strain of Trichoderma to be used for effi cient plant disease control. In this regard, several approaches have been adapted to study these tripartite interactions at molecular level such as transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics. Although transcriptomic approach generates huge data, the study is incomplete without involving proteomic aspect, as it is directly responsible for cellular activity. Therefore, implication of proteomics in studying plant-pathogen interaction is now gaining noteworthy attention. Recently, proteomic approach has been found to contribute successfully in recognizing and characterizing the major proteins playing key role in inducing the defense mechanism in plants against pathogen attack. Nevertheless, empathizing proteomics of Trichoderma spp. can be used to discover novel determinants that would be helpful in developing new biocontrol formulation with enhanced biocontrol potential. Moreover, strain improvement using such determinants could also be achieved. In addition, proteomic study of the pathogen in this interaction is of great interest, as it would give insight into two aspects: fi rstly, the major factors contributing to the 80 pathogenicity and secondly, targeting such factors for diminishing the pathogenicity. Therefore, in this chapter we focus our attention on highlighting the recent advances and fi ndings regarding the proteomic approach used to study tripartite interaction between Trichoderma -plant-pathogen.
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