Physiological Response of Cape Gooseberry Plants to Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. physali, Fusaric Acid, and Water Deficit in a Hydrophonic System

Abstract

Cape gooseberry production has been limited by vascular wilt caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. physali (Foph). Fusaric acid (FA) is a mycotoxin produced by many Fusarium species such as F. oxysporum formae speciales. The effects of the interaction between this mycotoxin and plants (such as cape gooseberry) under biotic stress (water deficit, WD) have been little explored. Three experiments were carried out. The objectives of this study were to evaluate (i) different Foph inoculum densities (1 × 104 and 1 × 106 conidia ml−1; experiment (1); (ii) the effect of times of exposure (0, 6, 9, and 12 h) and FA concentrations (0, 12.5, 25, 50, and 100 mg L−1; experiment (2), and (iii) the interaction between Foph (1 × 104 conidia mL−1) or FA (25 mg L−1 × 9 h), and WD conditions (experiment 3) on the physiological (plant growth, leaf stomatal conductance (gs), and photochemical efficiency of PSII (Fv/Fm ratio) and biochemical [malondialdehyde (MDA) and proline] responses of cape gooseberry seedling ecotype Colombia. The first experiment showed that Foph inoculum density of 1 × 106 conidia ml−1 caused the highest incidence of the disease (100%). In the second experiment, gs (~40.6 mmol m−2 s−1) and Fv/Fm ratio (~0.59) decreased, whereas MDA (~9.8 μmol g−1 FW) increased in plants with exposure times of 9 and 12 h and an FA concentration of 100 mg L−1 compared with plants without FA exposure or concentrations (169.8 mmol m−2 s−1, 0.8, and 7.2 μmol g−1 FW for gs, Fv/Fm ratio and MDA, respectively). In the last experiment, the interaction between Foph or FA and WD promoted a higher area under the disease progress curve (AUDPC) (Foph × WD = 44.5 and FA × WD = 37) and lower gs (Foph × WD = 6.2 mmol m−2 s−1 and FA × WD = 9.5 mmol m−2 s−1) compared with plants without any interaction. This research could be considered as a new approach for the rapid scanning of responses to the effects of FA, Foph, and WD stress not only on cape gooseberry plants but also on other species from the Solanaceae family.

Fusaric acid-evoked oxidative stress affects plant defence system by inducing biochemical changes at subcellular level

“…Similarly, FA treatment of Arabidopsis seedlings reduced root and root hair growth along with induction of membrane hyperpolarisation (Bouizgarne et al 2006b ). Similarly, FA-induced physicochemical changes such as reduced photosynthetic activity and plant biomass, turgor loss, as well as high proline content were observed in cape gooseberry plants at 100 mg/L FA concentration (Mendoza-Vargas et al 2021 ). In addition, higher oxidative stress and antioxidant activity and reduced cell viability were observed in tomato cell suspensions at 2 × 10 −4 M dose of FA.…”

“…FA concentration between 50 and 200 mg/L resulted in lipid oxidation, and significantly increased the MDA content in wheat and faba bean seedlings (Li et al 2021 ). Similarly, FA exposure at a concentration of 100 mg/L increased the MDA level in cape gooseberry plant after 12 h (Mendoza-Vargas et al 2021 ). Further, other studies also showed that exposure of watermelon to FA (0–400 mg/L) increased MDA levels at 24 h. The MDA content significantly increased with the duration of FA exposure, reaching a maximum (5–11-fold) at 24 h post treatment as compared to control plants (Wu et al 2008b ).…”

“…FA also causes plant diseases such as fusarium wilt, which reduces the yield of many agricultural crops (Singh et al 2017 ). The toxicity of FA has been documented in many plant species such as tomato (Singh et al 2017 ), potato (Sapko et al 2011 ), cucumber (Wang et al 2015 ), watermelon (Wu et al 2007 ), banana (Fung et al 2019 ), date palm (Bouizgarne et al 2004 ), Arabidopsis (Bouizgarne et al 2006a ), maize (Spss and Oliveira 2009 ), cotton (Stipanovic et al 2011 ), tobacco (Jiao et al 2014 ), wheat (Li et al 2021 ), barley (Liu et al 2016 ), saffron (Samadi and Shahsavan Behboodi 2006 ), wax gourd (Wang et al 2021 ), chihuahua flower (Antić et al 2020 ), faba bean (Li et al 2021 ), castor bean (Pavlovkin et al 2004 ), cape gooseberry (Mendoza-Vargas et al 2021 ), sword lily (Nosir et al 2011 ) and hemp broomrape (Bouizgarne et al 2006b ). In plants, FA induces oxidative stress, chloroplast and mitochondrial dysfunction, lipid peroxidation, protein damage and DNA fragmentation (Jiao et al 2014 ; Iqbal et al 2021a ) (Fig.…”

Early Detection of Wild Rocket Tracheofusariosis Using Hyperspectral Image-Based Machine Learning

“…by Chitarra et al [59] just before visible plant withering. Under Fusarium wilting stress, the leaf apparatus is a recipient through the xylem of toxins secreted by the pathogen into the vessels (i.e., fusaric acid), which play a crucial role in damaging mesophyll cell membranes and chloroplasts due to the occurrence of oxidative stress [60][61][62], resulting in the suppression of all related photosynthesis processes, the development of leaf chlorosis, and yellowing [63]. While plant physiological responses to water shortage, which in the long run leads to leaf curling, wilting, and the appearance of necrosis, are somewhat more delayed than the abovementioned pigmentation anomalies due to the activation of plant self-protective mechanisms (i.e., stomatal closure, accumulation of proline, abscisic acid, and soluble sugars) according to the study by Sun et al [64] on cucumber infected by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp.…”

Mixtures of Biological Control Agents and Organic Additives Improve Physiological Behavior in Cape Gooseberry Plants under Vascular Wilt Disease

“…These agents can disrupt normal metabolism, plant growth, and yield [53]. In Colombia, one of the most limiting biotic agents in cape gooseberry crops is Foph, which is the species that causes vascular wilt, showing a wilt incidence greater than 50% in the production areas [54]. Alternatives based on biological control have become very important for the P. peruviana-Foph pathosystem in Colombia [11,38,45].…”