Abstract
Wheat (Triticum aestivum) is an important cereal crop, grown throughout the temperate and in some tropical and sub-tropical zones, at higher elevations. Several biotic and abiotic factors influence the production of wheat. In the present study, two wheat varieties have been subjected to disease severity and resistance analysis against Fusarium equiseti. Disease severity analysis revealed Shafaq-2006 to be more resistant than Sahar-2006. Both varieties were further subjected to the expression analysis of six important defense-related genes by RT-PCR and quantitative real-time PCR. This analysis revealed that PR-1, TLP, Chitinase, and β-1,3-glucanase genes were highly expressed in Shafaq-2006 and possibly play a significant role in its defense mechanism. In addition, biochemical and physiochemical parameters were also studied to further explore the difference between resistant and susceptible varieties. With total proline and protein contents, sugar and chlorophyll contents also increased significantly in resistant variety. Likewise, higher relative water content, total plant length, and the high root–shoot ratio was observed in resistant plants, compared to susceptible wheat plants. These increases in chemical and physiological parameters might be related to the activation of the defense mechanism due to the higher expression of PR genes in the resistant wheat variety. These genes can further be employed for cloning into wheat and other transgenic crops to develop resistance against F. equiseti.
Highlights
Wheat (Triticum aestivum) is regarded one of the major cereal crops that is being challenged by various biotic and abiotic stresses which influence and disturb metabolic processes in plants
Comparing to control, the less number of plants were observed under fungal treatments, where most of the plants of susceptible variety (Sahar-2006) died Agronomy 2021, 11, x FOR PEER REVIaEsWcompared to resistant variety (Shafaq-2006) (Figure 2)
The analysis of the present results revealed that the protein contents in Shafaq-2006 were increased to that of Sahar-2006 in control as well as stress condition
Summary
Wheat (Triticum aestivum) is regarded one of the major cereal crops that is being challenged by various biotic and abiotic stresses which influence and disturb metabolic processes in plants. Various fungal species have been known to cause severe diseases in plants. As a predominant soil saprophyte, F. equiseti is associated with fruit rots as well as dead and dying plant tissues. It acts as an important pathogenic agent on various agricultural plants [3]. F. equiseti is known to cause different diseases in many plants, such as root rot in winter, wheat and stem rot in maize [5], and Fusarium head blight in barley and wheat [6,7]. To overcome the influences of these unusual pathogens or environmental stresses, plants activate different defense systems [9]
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