Essential Oil of Foeniculum vulgare Mill. as a Green Fungicide and Defense-Inducing Agent against Fusarium Root Rot Disease in Vicia faba L.

Abstract

Fusarium solani, the causative agent of root rot disease is one of the major constraints of faba bean (Vicia faba L.) yield worldwide. Essential oils have become excellent plant growth stimulators besides their antifungal properties. Foeniculum vulgare Mill. (fennel) is a familiar medicinal plant that has inhibitory effects against phytopathogenic fungi. Herein, different concentrations of fennel seed essential oil (FSEO) (12.5, 25, 50, 100, 200 and 400 μL/mL) were examined against F. solani KHA10 (accession number MW444555) isolated from rotted roots of faba bean in vitro and in vivo. The chemical composition of FSEO, through gas chromatography/mass spectroscopy, revealed 10 major compounds. In vitro, FSEO inhibited F. solani with a minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of 25 µL/mL. In vivo, FSEO suppressed Fusarium root rot disease in Vicia faba L. by decreasing the disease severity (61.2%) and disease incidence (50%), and acted as protective agent (32.5%) of Vicia faba L. Improvements in morphological and biochemical parameters were recorded in FSEO-treated faba seeds. Moreover, the expression level of the defense-related genes defensin and chitinase was noticeably enhanced in treated plants. This study suggested using FSEO as a promising antifungal agent against F. solani not only to control root rot disease but also to enhance plant growth and activate plant defense.

Defense Mechanisms Induced by Celery Seed Essential Oil against Powdery Mildew Incited by Podosphaera fusca in Cucumber

“…Flavonoid compounds play an important role in resistance of plants against pathogens and can prevent pathogen spread by stimulating tissue differentiation, leading in some plants to the generation of structures such as tyloses which restrict the spread of the pathogen within the vascular tissue [60]. Consistently with other studies [17,57], it can be hypothesized that the increase in flavonoid compounds in healthy cucumber seedlings treated with CSEO was a reaction to the oxidative stress caused by the essential oil.…”

“…After the treatment with CSEO, both the infected and healthy cucumber leaves showed a significant increase in concentration of flavonoid compounds compared with the leaves of untreated healthy plants. Many studies reported the increase in flavonoid compounds in response to essential oil treatment [17,57]. Conversely, the level of flavonoid compounds did not show any change in untreated seedlings infected with powdery mildew compared to healthy seedlings, except for at 1 d. According to these results, it seems that the infection by P. fusca did not provoke any increase in flavonoid concentration in cucumber leaves.…”

Effect of enzyme-response Mag@CMCS@CPSG film on rice sheath blight disease (caused by Rhizoctonia solani) control and rice quality

“…Plant extracts with antimicrobial activity are considered a class of safe, efficient, and sustainable natural substances and ideal materials to replace chemical pesticides. Extensive studies on plant protection have been demonstrated (Jiang et al, 2021;Khaleil et al, 2021;Uwineza et al, 2022). However, plant extracts are generally difficult to dissolve in water and have poor stability.…”

Root-Associated Microbiomes of Panax notoginseng under the Combined Effect of Plant Development and Alpinia officinarum Hance Essential Oil

“…Foeniculum vulgare Mill. EO as a promising antifungal agent against Fusarium solani not only to control root rot disease but also to enhance plant growth and activate plant defense [25]. EO reduces postharvest anthracnose of Carica papaya L. and modulates defense-related gene expression linked to plant defense, pathogenesis-related protein, cell wall-degrading enzymes, oxidative stress, abiotic stress, and the phenylpropanoid pathway [26].…”