No abstract

The production of micropropagated plants in plant-tissue-culture laboratories and nurseries is the most important method for propagation of many economic plants. Micropropagation based on tissue-culture technology involves large-scale propagation, as it allows multiplication of a huge number of true-to-type propagules in a very short time and in a very limited space, as well as all year round, regardless of the climate. However, applying plant-tissue-culture techniques for the commercial propagation of plants may face a lot of obstacles or troubles that could result from technical, biological, physiological, and/or genetical reasons, or due to overproduction or the lack of facilities and professional technicians, as shown in the current study. Moreover, several disorders and abnormalities are discussed in the present review. This study aims to show the most serious problems and obstacles of plant micropropagation, and their solutions from both scientific and technical sides. This review, as a first report, includes different challenges in plant micropropagation (i.e., contamination, delay of subculture, burned plantlets, browning, in vitro rooting difficulty, somaclonal variations, hyperhydricity, shoot tip necrosis, albino plantlets, recalcitrance, shoot abnormalities, in vitro habituation) in one paper. Most of these problems are related to scientific and/or technical reasons, and they could be avoided by following the micropropagation protocol suitable for each plant species. The others are dominant in plant-tissue-culture laboratories, in which facilities are often incomplete, or due to poor infrastructure and scarce funds.

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) is among the most important vegetable crops worldwide. Early blight disease, caused by Alternaria solani, is a destructive foliar disease of tomato and other Solanaceae species. Herein, we investigated the in vitro antifungal properties of gallic acid and two of its derivatives (syringic and pyrogallic acids) against A. solani during 2019 and 2020 seasons. The physiological and biochemical effects of these compounds on infected tomato plants were also investigated using the whole plant bioassay. The in vitro investigation showed that all tested compounds showed fungistatic action and inhibited the mycelial radial growth of A. solani in a dose-dependent manner. In two separate pot-experiments, those compounds efficiently suppressed the development of the disease symptoms and area under disease progress curve (AUDPC), without any phytotoxic effects on the treated tomato plants. Additionally, all tested compounds positively enhanced the biochemical traits of treated plants including the chlorophyll content, the total soluble phenolics, the total soluble flavonoids, and the enzymatic activities of catalase, peroxidase, and polyphenol oxidase during 2019 and 2020 seasons. Moreover, the treatment with gallic acid and its derivatives significantly increased all yield components of A. solani-infected tomato plants such as the total number of flowers and fruits, and the fruit yield for each tomato plant in both experiments. Considering the fungitoxicity of phenolic acids against A. solani with no phytotoxicity on treated tomato plants, we believe that gallic acid and its derivatives might be a sustainable eco-friendly control strategy to reduce the usage of chemical fungicides partially or entirely against A. solani particularly, and fungal diseases in general.

Tomato early blight, caused by Alternaria solani, is a destructive foliar fungal disease. Herein, the potential defensive roles of benzoic acid (BA) and two of its hydroxylated derivatives, ρ-hydroxybenzoic acid (HBA), and protocatechuic acid (PCA) against A. solani were investigated. All tested compounds showed strong dose-dependent fungistatic activity against A. solani and significantly reduced the disease development. Benzoic acid, and its hydroxylated derivatives, enhanced vegetative growth and yield traits. Moreover, BA and its derivatives induce the activation of enzymatic (POX, PPO, CAT, SlAPXs, and SlSODs) and non-enzymatic (phenolics, flavonoids, and carotenoids) antioxidant defense machinery to maintain reactive oxygen species (ROS) homeostasis within infected leaves. Additionally, BA and its hydroxylated derivatives induce the accumulation of salicylic acid (SA) and its biosynthetic genes including isochorismate synthase (SlICS), aldehyde oxidases (SlAO1 and SlAO2), and phenylalanine ammonia-lyases (SlPAL1, SlPAL2, SlPAL3, SlPAL5, and SlPAL6). Higher SA levels were associated with upregulation of pathogenesis-related proteins (SlPR-1, SlPR1a2, SlPRB1-2, SlPR4, SlPR5, SlPR6), nonexpressor of pathogenesis-related protein 1 (SlNPR1), and salicylic acid-binding protein (SlSABP2). These findings outline the potential application of BA and its hydroxylated derivatives as a sustainable alternative control strategy for early blight disease and also deciphering the physiological and biochemical mechanisms behind their protective role.

Bacterial wilt caused by Ralstonia solanacerum is one of the most economically and destructive eggplant diseases in many tropical and subtropical areas of the world. The objectives of this study were to develop interspecific hybrids, as potential rootstocks, between the eggplant (Solanum melongena) bacterial wilt resistant line EG203 and four wild accessions (S. incanum UPV1, S. insanum UPV2, S.anguivi UPV3, and S. sisymbriifolium UPV4), and to evaluate interspecific hybrids along with parents for resistance to bacterial wilt strains Pss97 and Pss2016. EG203 was crossed successfully with wild accessions UPV2 and UPV3 and produced viable seeds that germinated when wild accessions were used as a maternal parent in the crosses. In addition, viable interspecific hybrids between EG203 and UPV1 were obtained in both directions of the hybridization, although embryo rescue had to be used. Hybridity was confirmed in the four developed interspecific hybrid combinations with three SSR markers. EG203 was resistant to both strains Pss97 and Pss2016, while UPV1 and UPV3 were, respectively, resistant and moderately resistant to Pss2016. The four interspecific hybrids with UPV2, UPV3, and UPV1 were susceptible to both bacterial wilt strains, indicating that the resistance of EG203, UPV1, and UPV3 behaves as recessive in interspecific crosses. However, given the vigor of interspecific hybrids between eggplant and the three cultivated wild species, these hybrids may be of interest as rootstocks. However, the development of interspecific hybrid rootstocks resistant to bacterial wilt will probably require the identification of new sources of dominant resistance to this pathogen in the eggplant wild relatives.

Improving the productivity of cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) plants subjected to combined salinity and heat stresses is a significant challenge, particularly in arid and semi-arid regions. Gianco F1 cucumbers were grafted onto five cucurbit rootstocks and, together with an ungrafted control, were grown in Egypt in a net house with saline soil during the summer season over two years. The vegetative growth, yield, quality, biochemical, and mineral composition traits were measured. Although many differences were observed among treatments, in general, the grafted plants had a performance better than or similar to that of the ungrafted plants, based on the different parameters measured. In particular, the cucumber plants grafted onto the Cucurbita maxima × C. moschata interspecific hybrid rootstocks VSS-61 F1 and Ferro had the highest early and total marketable yields. These two rootstocks consistently conferred higher vigor to the scion, which had lower flower abortion rates and higher chlorophyll contents. The fruit quality and N, P, and K composition in the leaves suffered few relevant changes as compared with the control. However, the leaves of the VSS-61 F1 had higher catalase activity, as well as proline and Se contents, while those of Ferro had higher Si content. This study reveals that the grafting of cucumber plants onto suitable rootstocks may mitigate the adverse effects caused by the combination of saline soil and heat stresses. This represents a significant improvement for cucumber cultivation in saline soil under high-temperature stress conditions in arid regions.

No abstract

The production and quality of tomato seedlings needs many growth factors and production requirements besides controlling the phytopathogens. Paclobutrazol (PBZ) has benefit applications in improving crop productivity under biotic stress (Alternaria solani, the causal agent of early blight disease in tomatoes). In the current study, the foliar application of PBZ, at rates of 25, 50, and 100 mg L−1, was evaluated against early blight disease in tomatoes under greenhouse conditions. The roles of PBZ to extend tomato seedling lives and handling in nurseries were also investigated by measuring different the biochemical (leaf enzymes, including catalase and peroxidase) and histological attributes of tomato seedlings. Disease assessment confirmed that PBZ enhanced the quality of tomato seedlings and induced resistance to early blight disease post inoculation, at 7, 14, and 21 days. Higher values in chlorophyll content, enzyme activities, and anatomical features of stem (cuticle thickness) and stomata (numbers and thickness) were recorded, due to applied PBZ. This may support the delay of the transplanting of tomato seedlings without damage. The reason for this extending tomato seedling life may be due to the role of PBZ treatment in producing seedlings to be greener, more compact, and have a better root system. The most obvious finding to emerge from this study is that PBZ has a distinguished impact in ameliorating biotic stress, especially of the early blight disease under greenhouse conditions. Further studies, which consider molecular variables, will be conducted to explore the role of PBZ in more detail.