Enhanced tolerance to seed-borne infection of bean common mosaic virus in salicylic acid treated bean plant

Abstract

Bean common mosaic virus (BCMV)-infected bean seeds (P. vulgaris L. cv. Sadri) were subjected to low doses of gamma irradiation and the obtained seedlings were treated with 100 µm salicylic acid (SA). Bean seedlings treated with just the low doses of gamma rays, SA alone, or those treated with gamma rays and SA, were screened for seed-borne infection of BCMV by the indirect plate-trapped antigen-enzyme-linked immunosorbant assay. The results indicated that BCMV infection and its symptom severity in bean seedlings was decreased in a dose-dependent manner either by gamma irradiations alone or in associated with SA, compared to the samples treated with just SA. The specific activity of various antioxidant enzymes, as well as the total protein content of the treated beans leaves, were also measured in virus-free healthy and infected bean seedlings. The results showed that all three treatments significantly increased the protein content in healthy and infected bean leaves compared to the non-irradiated control beans. The 20 and 30 Gy doses of gamma irradiation, alone or in association with the SA were also effective treatments to induce the antioxidant enzymes. These preliminary findings may indicate that the low doses of gamma irradiation may have increased the tolerance level of bean seedlings to BCMV infection.