Mixtures of Biological Control Agents and Organic Additives Improve Physiological Behavior in Cape Gooseberry Plants under Vascular Wilt Disease.

José Luis Chaves-Gómez,Sandra Gómez-Caro,Alba Marina Cotes Prado,Cristian Camilo Chávez-Arias,Hermann Restrepo-Díaz

doi:10.3390/plants10102059

Abstract

This study aimed to assess the soil application of mixtures of biological control agents (BCAs) (Trichoderma virens and Bacillus velezensis) and organic additives (chitosan and burnt rice husk) on the physiological and biochemical behavior of cape gooseberry plants exposed to Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. physali (Foph) inoculum. The treatments with inoculated and non-inoculated plants were: (i) T. virens + B. velezensis (Mix), (ii) T. virens + B. velezensis + burnt rice husk (MixRh), (iii) T. virens + B. velezensis + chitosan (MixChi), and (iv) controls (plants without any mixtures). Plants inoculated and treated with Mix or MixChi reduced the area under the disease progress curve (AUDPC) (57.1) and disease severity index (DSI) (2.97) compared to inoculated plants without any treatment (69.3 for AUDPC and 3.2 for DSI). Additionally, these groups of plants (Mix or MixChi) obtained greater leaf water potential (~−0.5 Mpa) and a lower MDA production (~12.5 µmol g−2 FW) than plants with Foph and without mixtures (−0.61 Mpa and 18.2 µmol g−2 FW, respectively). The results suggest that MixChi treatments may be a promising alternative for vascular wilt management in cape gooseberry crops affected by this disease.

Highlights

Cape gooseberry (Physalis peruviana L.) is a plant species belonging to the Solanaceae family and its center of origin is the Andean region of South America [1]
Intermediate values for the area under the disease progress curve (AUDPC) were observed in plants with the application of the mixture of T. virens + B. velezensis and the addition of burnt rice husk (MixRh) (63.8) (Table 1; Figure 1C)
The lowest values were recorded for the mixtures T. virens + B. velezensis (Mix) and T. virens + B. velezensis with the addition of chitosan (MixChi) (56.6 and 57.6, respectively) (Table 1; Figure 1B–D)

Summary

Introduction

Cape gooseberry (Physalis peruviana L.) is a plant species belonging to the Solanaceae family and its center of origin is the Andean region of South America [1]. This fruit has acquired economic importance due to its high content of vitamins A, C, and B, essential minerals such as iron (Fe), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), and zinc (Zn), and antioxidants (tocopherols, carotenoids, and ascorbic acid) [2,3]. Vascular wilt caused by Fusarium oxysporum is one of the main limitations in economically important Andean fruit trees such as lulo (Solanum quitoense Lamarck.) and cape gooseberry [5,6,7]. Vascular wilt generates a considerable decrease in production and yield per hectare, going from 19,300 t and 18 t ha−1 in 2009 to 16,100 t and 12.2 t ha−1 for 2018, respectively [4,5,8]

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