Nanoparticles and biochar with adsorbed plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria alleviate Fusarium wilt damage on tomato and watermelon

Milica Pavlicevic; Wade Elmer; Nubia Zuverza-Mena; Wael Abdelraheem; Ravikumar Patel; Christian Dimkpa; Tana O'Keefe; Christy L Haynes; Luca Pagano; Marina Caldara; Marta Marmiroli; Elena Maestri; Nelson Marmiroli; Jason C White

doi:10.1016/j.plaphy.2023.108052

Nanoparticles and biochar with adsorbed plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria alleviate Fusarium wilt damage on tomato and watermelon

Plant Physiol Biochem. 2023 Oct:203:108052. doi: 10.1016/j.plaphy.2023.108052. Epub 2023 Sep 26.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry, Life Sciences and Environmental Sustainability, University of Parma, Parma, Italy. Electronic address: milica.pavlicevic@unipr.it.
² Connecticut Agricultural Experimental Station, New Haven, CT, USA. Electronic address: Wade.Elmer@ct.gov.
³ Connecticut Agricultural Experimental Station, New Haven, CT, USA. Electronic address: Nubia.Zuverza@ct.gov.
⁴ Connecticut Agricultural Experimental Station, New Haven, CT, USA; Chemistry Department, Faculty of Science, Sohag University, Sohag 82524, Egypt. Electronic address: whafez2008@gmail.com.
⁵ Connecticut Agricultural Experimental Station, New Haven, CT, USA. Electronic address: Ravikumar.Patel@ct.gov.
⁶ Connecticut Agricultural Experimental Station, New Haven, CT, USA. Electronic address: Christian.Dimkpa@ct.gov.
⁷ Department of Chemistry, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA. Electronic address: okeef179@umn.edu.
⁸ Department of Chemistry, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA. Electronic address: chaynes@umn.edu.
⁹ Department of Chemistry, Life Sciences and Environmental Sustainability, University of Parma, Parma, Italy. Electronic address: luca.pagano@unipr.it.
¹⁰ Department of Chemistry, Life Sciences and Environmental Sustainability, University of Parma, Parma, Italy. Electronic address: marina.caldara@unpr.it.
¹¹ Department of Chemistry, Life Sciences and Environmental Sustainability, University of Parma, Parma, Italy. Electronic address: marta.marmiroli@unipr.it.
¹² Department of Chemistry, Life Sciences and Environmental Sustainability, University of Parma, Parma, Italy; Interdepartmental Center SITEIA.PARMA, University of Parma, Parma, Italy. Electronic address: elena.maestri@unipr.it.
¹³ Department of Chemistry, Life Sciences and Environmental Sustainability, University of Parma, Parma, Italy; Interdepartmental Center SITEIA.PARMA, University of Parma, Parma, Italy; National Interuniversity Consortium for Environmental Sciences (CINSA), Parma, Italy. Electronic address: nelson.marmiroli@unipr.it.
¹⁴ Connecticut Agricultural Experimental Station, New Haven, CT, USA. Electronic address: Jason.White@ct.gov.

PMID: 37778113
DOI: 10.1016/j.plaphy.2023.108052

Abstract

The addition of biochars and nanoparticles with adsorbed Azotobacter vinelandii and Bacillus megaterium alleviated damage from Fusarium infection in both tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) and watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) plants. Tomato and watermelon plants were grown in greenhouse for 28 and 30 days (respectively) and were treated with either nanoparticles (chitosan-coated mesoporous silica or nanoclay) or varying biochars (biochar produced by pyrolysis, gasification and pyrogasification). Treatments with nanoparticles and biochars were applied in two variants - with or without adsorbed plant-growth promoting bacteria (PGPR). Chitosan-coated mesoporous silica nanoparticles with adsorbed bacteria increased chlorophyll content in infected tomato and watermelon plants (1.12 times and 1.63 times, respectively) to a greater extent than nanoclay with adsorbed bacteria (1.10 times and 1.38 times, respectively). However, the impact on other endpoints (viability of plant cells, phosphorus and nitrogen content, as well antioxidative status) was species-specific. In all cases, plants treated with adsorbed bacteria responded better than plants without bacteria. For example, the content of antioxidative compounds in diseased watermelon plants increased nearly 46% upon addition of Aries biochar and by approximately 52% upon addition of Aries biochar with adsorbed bacteria. The overall effect on disease suppression was due to combination of the antifungal effects of both nanoparticles (and biochars) and plant-growth promoting bacteria. These findings suggest that nanoparticles or biochars with adsorbed PGPR could be viewed as a novel and sustainable solution for management of Fusarium wilt.

Keywords: Biochar; Fusarium; Mesoporous silica; Nanoclay; PGPR.

MeSH terms

Bacteria
Chitosan* / pharmacology
Citrullus*
Fusarium*
Nanoparticles*
Plant Diseases / microbiology
Plant Diseases / prevention & control
Silicon Dioxide / pharmacology
Solanum lycopersicum*

Substances

biochar
Chitosan
Silicon Dioxide