Chitosan Stimulates Calcium Uptake and Enhances the Capability of Chinese Cabbage Plant to Resist Soft Rot Disease Caused by Pectobacterium carotovorum ssp. carotovorum

Abstract

Chinese cabbage plant was grown hydroponically for 4 weeks in order to examine the temporal relationship of calcium concentration of the nutrient solution with calcium content in the leaf tissue and susceptibility of the tissue to soft rot disease by Pectobacterium carotovorum ssp. carotovorum (Pcc). Calcium concentration from 0.5 to 32.0 mM was maintained for 1 week using Hoagland & Arnon solution. The calcium content of the leaf was proportionally increased to the concentration of the nutrient in the solution (r = 0.912). In contrast, the severity of soft rot symptom in the young leaves was inversely related with the amount of calcium supplied to the nutrient solution (r = 0.899). Water-soluble chitosan, prepared by hollow fiber filtration (＞ 100 kDa) was applied into the nutrient solution from 0.0 to 5,000 ppm. The chitosan of 10 ppm was the most effective to promote calcium uptake of the leaf, showing 155% of the control. The same chitosan solution prohibited most soft rot development of the leaf by Pcc, exhibiting only 53% of the control. Among different molecular weight fractions, chitosan fraction obtained from 30-100 kDa molecular weight cut-off promoted calcium uptake the most up to 163% of the control, and reduced the development of soft rot disease recording merely 36% of the control of the leaf tissue. The results obtained in the present study suggest that large scale production of water-soluble chitosan with an optimum molecular weight and its commercial application to Chinese cabbage production will be important to improve yield and quality of the crop.