BABA effects on the behaviour of potato cultivars infected by Phytophthora infestans and Fusarium solani

Abstract

Since most plants possess resistance mechanisms which can be induced upon pre-treatment with a variety of chemical compounds, the use of β-aminobutyric acid (BABA) as a defence inducer without reported toxic effect on the environment was studied. The aim of this work was to analyse the effectiveness of BABA to induce resistance against Phytophthora infestans and Fusarium solani in potato cultivars differing in their level of resistance to late blight. The behaviour of some components of biochemical mechanisms by which BABA increases resistance against P. infestans, as well as the effect of BABA on the activity of a potential pathogenic factor of F. solani, were studied. Plants with four applications of BABA throughout the crop cycle produced tubers more resistant to P. infestans and F. solani than non-treated plants. In addition, tuber slices from treated plants, inoculated with P. infestans, showed an increase in phenol and phytoalexin content. The aspartyl protease StAP1 accumulation was also higher in tubers obtained from treated plants and inoculated with P. infestans. This result was observed only in the more resistant potato cv. Pampeana, early after infection. In the potato-F. solani interaction, infected tubers coming from BABA-treated plants showed minor fungal proteolytic activity than infected, nontreated ones. For potato cvs Pampeana and Bintje, the BABA treatment improved the yield of harvested tubers. The number of tubers per plant and total weight of harvested tubers was greater for those obtained from treated plants with two early or four applications of BABA. The results show that the BABA treatment increases the resistance of potatoes but the degree of increase depends on the original level of resistance present in each cultivar.

Effect of foliar applications of phosphite on post-harvest potato tubers

“…At this time, tubers were washed with distilled water, disinfected by immersion in 2.5 g l −1 sodium hypochlorite for 5 min and washed again with distilled water, and then used for phytopathological assays. Protection against P. infestans and F. solani was evaluated as described by Olivieri et al (2009). Briefly, for evaluation of P. infestans 20 tubers per treatment were used in five independent replicates.…”

“…Since phytoalexin accumulation is part of the general defence response of potato tubers against P. infestans (Andreu et al 2001), and their accumulation was also reported in tubers after treatment with the plant activator β-aminobutyric acid (BABA) (Olivieri et al 2009), phytoalexin content and the expression of different enzymes that could participate in the defence mechanism were measured. Taking into account that treatment with Phi produced changes in yield related parameters, like darker green colour in leaves and a delay in crop senescence, we also analyzed the effects of foliar treatment on crop yield.…”

Induced resistance in potato to Phytphthora infestans—effects of BABA in greenhouse and field tests with different potato varieties

“…to apply non-toxic compounds or organisms that stimulate or prime plant defence. Among the most reported effective inducing agents in potato is BABA (DL-β-aminobutyric acid), a non-protein amino acid (Cohen and Gisi 1994;Jakab et al 2001;Cohen 2002;Kim and Jeun 2007;Altamiranda et al 2008;Olivieri et al 2009). Only once has it been reported to have effect also under field conditions and this study was carried out in Israel (Cohen 2002).…”

“…the level of resistance (Andreu et al 2006;Altamiranda et al 2008 andOlivieri et al 2009). Altamiranda et al (2008) reported that foliar treatments with BABA 30 days after crop emergence showed a 60% and 20% efficacy against late blight in the moderately resistant cv.…”

The effect of β-aminobutyric acid (BABA) on root knot nematode and soft rot pathogen disease complexes in Solanum tuberosum plants

“…incognita and M. chitwoodi (Ge et al, 1999;Nandi et al, 2003;Altamiranda et al, 2008;Olivieri et al, 2009;dos Santos et al, 2013;Moahmed et al, 2013). However, there are hardly any studies investigating the effect of BABA against complexes of these phytopathogens.…”