Abstract
Tomato bacterial spot (Bs), caused by Xanthomonas spp., including X. euvesicatoria (Xeu) remains a major threat for tomato production. The emergence of copper resistance strains of Xeu calls urgently for eco-friendly phytosanitary treatments as sustainable green alternatives for disease control. Satureja spp. essential oil (EO) has antimicrobial activity against xanthomonads and combined with zein nanoparticles (ZNPs), might offer a viable option for field applications. This study aims to evaluate the effects of S. montana EO, of ZNPs, and their combination in a nanoformulation, on Xeu quantity, and how these compounds modulate molecular and physiological changes in the pathosystem. Uninfected and infected tomato plants (var. Oxheart) were treated with EO; ZNPs and nanoformulation (EO + ZNPs). Treatments reduced Xeu amount by a minimum of 1.6-fold (EO) and a maximum of 202-fold (ZNPs) and improved plants’ health. Nanoformulation and ZNPs increased plants’ phenolic content. ZNPs significantly increased GPX activity and reduced CAT activity. Overall treatments upregulated transcripts of the phenylpropanoid pathway in infected plants, while ZNPs and nanoformulation upregulated those transcripts in uninfected plants. Both sod and aao transcripts were downregulated by treatments in infected plants. These findings demonstrate that S. montana EO, ZNPs and their nanoformulation are suitable to integrate tomato bacterial spot management strategies, mainly due to their antimicrobial activity on Xeu, however further field studies clarifying the long-term action of these products are required. These results also support the prophylactic potential of ZNPs on tomato bacterial spot.
Highlights
This article is an open access articleTomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) is one of the world’s most consumed and produced fresh vegetables [1], with 180 million tonnes being produced globally in 2019, according to FAOSTAT
This study aims to quantify the efficacy of S. montana essential oil (EO), free or encapsulated in
In this work we explored the S. montana EO, free or encapsulated in zein NPs, and
Summary
This article is an open access article. Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) is one of the world’s most consumed and produced fresh vegetables [1], with 180 million tonnes being produced globally in 2019, according to FAOSTAT (www.fao.org, accessed on 10 August 2021). Tomato production is affected by several bacterial diseases, among which is the bacterial spot (Bs). This disease can lead to significant yield losses [2]. Horticulturae 2021, 7, 584 genus (X. vesicatoria; X. euvesicatoria; X. gardneri; X. perforans) [3]. Among these four species, only X. euvesicatoria (Xeu) and X. vesicatoria can cause disease symptoms on fruits [3]
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