Abstract
Fusarium head blight (FHB) is a devastating disease for cereals. FHB is managed by fungicides at anthesis, but their efficacy is variable. Conventional fungicides accumulate in the soil and are dangerous for animal and human health. This study assayed the antifungal ability of chitosan hydrochloride against Fusarium graminearum. Chitosan reduced F. graminearum growth and downregulated the transcript of the major genes involved in the cell growth, respiration, virulence, and trichothecenes biosynthesis. Chitosan promoted the germination rate, the root and coleoptile development, and the nitrogen balance index in two durum wheat genotypes, Marco Aurelio (FHB-susceptible) and DBC480 (FHB-resistant). Chitosan reduced FHB severity when applied on spikes or on the flag leaves. FHB severity in DBC480 was of 6% at 21 dpi after chitosan treatments compared to F. graminearum inoculated control (20%). The elicitor-like property of chitosan was confirmed by the up-regulation of TaPAL, TaPR1 and TaPR2 (around 3-fold). Chitosan decreased the fungal spread and mycotoxins accumulation. This study demonstrated that the non-toxic chitosan is a powerful molecule with the potential to replace the conventional fungicides. The combination of a moderately resistant genotype (DBC480) with a sustainable compound (chitosan) will open new frontiers for the reduction of conventional compounds in agriculture.
Highlights
Wheat is one of the most cultivated crops worldwide and its annual production is estimated to be more than 700 million tons
The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) value of chitosan hydrochloride was established by a 96 microtiter plates assay and the concentration at 1% resulted to inhibit completely F. graminearum growth
F. graminearum in chitosan-incorporated Potato Dextrose Agar (PDA), none of the chitosan concentrations tested was as effective as tebuconazole and the mixture of tebuconazole and azoxystrobin in limiting F. graminearum radial growth
Summary
Wheat is one of the most cultivated crops worldwide and its annual production is estimated to be more than 700 million tons. Wheat accounts for more than 20% of total human food calories, it is extensively grown on 17% of all crop areas, and it is the staple food for 40% of the world’s population, comprising Europe, North America, and the western and northern parts of Asia [1,2]. Molecules 2020, 25, 4752 most widespread crop in the Mediterranean area and around 77% of the Italian production of durum wheat comes from the Central and Southern regions, mainly employed for the production of pasta [5]. Fusarium head blight (FHB) is caused by the Fusarium species and is considered as the most devastating wheat disease due to the lack of resistant cultivars, significant yield loss and grain quality reduction, and health threat of wheat food and feed contaminated with mycotoxins produced by the causal agents [6,7]. FHB epidemics have occurred regularly in the wheat-growing regions such as Asia, North and South America, and Europe [8]
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