Heritable priming by Trichoderma: A sustainable approach for wheat protection against Bipolaris sorokiniana

Abstract

Crop plants encounter a variety of biotic challenges in the field and faces significant reduction in crop yield. In the current scenario of an ever increasing global population, there is an urgent need to protect plant health by using sustainable approach to maximize the crop productivity and to mitigate the food demands. Nowadays, we mostly rely on chemical crop protection techniques, which are causing a number of environmental and health difficulties. Defence priming is a chemical-free, eco-friendly, and sustainable strategy of crop protection, which is also called “green vaccination. In the present study, for the first time, we used Trichoderma as a priming agent to protect wheat crop from spot blotch disease. We have established Trichoderma-mediated defence priming in wheat against Bipolaris sorokiniana for sustainable crop improvement. We have characterised the morphological, disease phenotype, biochemical and yield parameters of Trichoderma-primed and non-primed wheat under disease pressure. Trichoderma-primed plants were found to be more protected against B. sorokiniana as compared to non-primed plants. Biochemical studies indicated that there is no direct defence response after priming stimulus but the defence response was activated only after triggering stimulus in terms of enhanced defence metabolites in primed plants as compared to non-primed plants. In the present study, since defence was activated only when required, that is under disease pressure, there was no unnecessary allocation of resources towards defence. Hence, no yield penalty was shown in primed plants as compared to control. We further evaluated the inheritance of primed state to the next generation and found that progeny of primed parents also performed better than progeny of non-primed parents under disease pressure in terms of protection from B. sorokiniana as well as yield performance. This strategy has the potential to protect crop without any yield penalty and causing environmental degradation. Our research findings indicate that Trichoderma-mediated defence priming could be an alternative approach for improving wheat productivity under biotic stress. To be our best knowledge, this is the first documented report for the Trichoderma-mediated defence priming and induced inheritance in wheat plant. This study will open new arenas in sustainable crop protection strategies for the exploitation of defence priming in crop plants.

Bolstering Wheat’s Immunity: BABA-Mediated Defense Priming AgainstBipolaris sorokinianaAmid Competition

“…Leaves from both primed and non-primed wheat plants were sampled seven days after inoculation. Various biochemical parameters, including chlorophyll, carotenoid, malondialdehyde, total phenol, ascorbic acid, and total ROS scavenging activity, were quantified following methods described in our previous research (Tiwari et al, 2022b). Chlorophyll levels were determined using the method outlined by Maclachlan and Zalik (1963), while carotenoids were measured following the procedure by Duxbury and Yentsch (1956).…”

“…Yield-related traits of both primed and non-primed wheat were measured after harvesting the spikes. Various parameters including the total number of spikes, spike length, spikelet density, spikelet fertility, grain length, grain width, and thousand grain weight (TGW) were determined following the methods outlined in Tiwari et al, 2022b.…”

Harnessing Agri-Food Waste as a Source of Biopolymers for Agriculture

“…The antimicrobial properties of chitosan are useful in agriculture, as they can be employed to increase the shelf life of fresh fruit [93,96]. Moreover, chitosan can also be used in seed protection, since it facilitates the attachment of the biological priming agent Trichoderma asperellum to the seed [97], therefore significantly increasing seedling germination and inhibiting diseases [98]. Chitosan nanoparticles can also be used for the controlled release of herbicides, as they have been successfully used to encapsulate imazapic and imazapyr to reduce their toxicity and increase the efficacy of the treatment [99].…”

The Mitigation of Phytopathogens in Wheat under Current and Future Climate Change Scenarios: Next-Generation Microbial Inoculants

“…In general, wheat treated with such bacteria induces the expression of defense-related genes (e.g., ESD1, Lox2, and PR), induction of phenolic and flavonoid compounds, and callose deposition. Similarly, plant growth-promoting fungi, such as Trichoderma harzianum, Trichoderma asperellum, Trichoderma atroviride, and Piriformospora indica, have also demonstrated their effectiveness against wheat diseases (e.g., fusarium head blight and spot blotch) through the induction of ISR [54,[56][57][58]. However, it is important to note that while JA defense responses appear to be unaffected by temperature, as mentioned earlier, much of this research has been conducted in the model plant Arabidopsis, and there is limited knowledge regarding their performance in wheat.…”