Abstract
In eastern Africa, Maize lethal necrosis (MLN) is caused by the co-infection of maize plants with Maize chlorotic mottle virus (MCMV) (Tombusviridae: Machlomovirus) and Sugarcane mosaic virus (SCMV) (Potyviridae: Potyvirus). With the disease being new to Africa, minimal effective management strategies exist against it. This study examined the potential of 10 fungal isolates to colonize maize plants and induce resistance against MCMV and SCMV. Maize seeds were soaked in fungal inoculum, sown and evaluated for endophytic colonization. Fungus-treated plants were challenge-inoculated with SCMV and/or MCMV to assess the effects of fungal isolates on the viruses in terms of incidence, severity and virus titers over time. Isolates of Trichoderma harzianum, Trichoderma atroviride and Hypocrea lixii colonized different plant sections. All plants singly or dually-inoculated with SCMV and MCMV tested positive for the viruses by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Maize plants inoculated by T. harzianum and Metarhizium. anisopliae resulted in up to 1.4 and 2.7-fold reduced SCMV severity and titer levels, respectively, over the controls but had no significant effect on MCMV. The results show that both T. harzianum and M. anisopliae are potential candidates for inducing resistance against SCMV and can be used for the integrated management of MLN.
Highlights
Maize, Zea mays L. (Poales: Poaceae), is Kenya’s principal staple food crop and ranks highly in the food security and dietary preferences of many communities [1]
Colonization by H. lixii declined over time from 14 to 63 DAP for the roots, and from 14 to 35 DAP for the stem and leaf
Based on reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) results, almost all representative samples that were artificially inoculated with Sugarcane mosaic virus (SCMV) tested positive for the virus representative samples that were artificially inoculated with SCMV tested positive for the virus at 14 at 14 days post-inoculation (Figure 2)
Summary
Zea mays L. (Poales: Poaceae), is Kenya’s principal staple food crop and ranks highly in the food security and dietary preferences of many communities [1]. A disease termed maize lethal necrosis (MLN) was reported in. SCMV on the other hand is transmitted by various aphid species [15] Various management practices such as crop rotation, the use of tolerant hybrids, scouting for disease symptoms and destruction of infected crops, the use of certified seeds, the use of synthetic chemical insecticides to control vectors, weeding to destroy alternate vector hosts, and good agronomic practices to strengthen plants’ resistance against insect pests and diseases have been suggested to curb MLN and its spread [5,16,17]. Muvea et al [27] reported that endophytically-colonized onion plants induced resistance against onion thrips and thrips-transmitted Iris yellow spot virus (IYSV) (Bunyaviridae: Tospovirus). This study investigates the ability of ten fungal isolates to colonize maize plants and its impact on SCMV and MCMV infection of maize
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