Abstract
Vascular wilt caused by Fusarium oxysporum is the most limiting disease that affects cape gooseberry (Physalis peruviana L.) crops in Colombia. The use of synthetic elicitors for vascular wilt management is still scarce in Andean fruit species. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the effect and number of foliar applications of synthetic elicitors such as jasmonic acid (JA), salicylic acid (SA), brassinosteroids (BR), or a commercial resistance elicitor based on botanical extracts (BE) on disease progress and their effect on the physiology of cape gooseberry plants inoculated with F. oxysporum f. sp. physali. Groups of ten plants were separately sprayed once, twice, or three times with a foliar synthetic elicitor, respectively. Elicitor applications were performed at the following concentrations: JA (10 mL L−1), SA (100 mg L−1), BR (1 mL L−1) and BE (2.5 mL of commercial product (Loker®) L−1). The results showed that three foliar BR, SA, or BE applications reduced the area under the disease progress, severity index, and vascular browning in comparison to inoculated plants without any elicitor spray. Three BR, SA, or BE sprays also favored stomatal conductance, water potential, growth (total dry weight and leaf area) and fluorescence parameters of chlorophyll compared with inoculated and untreated plants with no elicitor sprays. Three foliar sprays of SA, BR, or BE enhanced photosynthetic pigments (leaf total chlorophyll and carotenoid content) and proline synthesis and decreased oxidative stress in Foph-inoculated plants. In addition, the effectiveness of three foliar BR, SA, or BE sprays was corroborated by three-dimensional plot and biplot analysis, in which it can evidence that stomatal conductance, proline synthesis, and efficacy percentage were accurate parameters to predict Foph management. On the hand, JA showed the lowest level of amelioration of the negative effects of Foph inoculation. In conclusion, the use of the synthetic elicitors BR, SA, or BE can be considered as a tool complementary for the commercial management of vascular wilt in areas where this disease is a limiting factor.
Highlights
Cape gooseberry (Physalis peruviana L.) is a species that belongs to the Solanaceae family, native to the Peruvian Andean zones [1]
A negative linear trend was observed between this variable and the foliar sprays number in all elicitors
This study showed that the use of synthetic elicitors such as BR, salicylic acid (SA), or botanical extracts (BE) improved the physiological and biochemical response in Foph-infected cape gooseberry plants
Summary
Cape gooseberry (Physalis peruviana L.) is a species that belongs to the Solanaceae family, native to the Peruvian Andean zones [1]. This species benefits human health due to its high vitamin, mineral (phosphorus and iron), and fiber contents, as well as its levels of antioxidant compounds (ascorbic acid and provitamin A) [2,3,4,5]. A reduction of cape gooseberry productivity has been registered (from 18 t/ha in 2009 to 15 t/ha in 2014) in the last years in Colombia [6,7]. One of the main causes of this reduction is vascular wilt, caused by the soil pathogen Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. physali (Foph) [8,9], which causes turgor loss in young leaves and stems, chlorosis in old leaves, branch drying and plant growth inhibition [8]
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