Crosstalk of Zn in Combination with Other Fertilizers Underpins Interactive Effects and Induces Resistance in Tomato Plant against Early Blight Disease

Morphological and biochemical variations induced by synergy of salicylic acid and zinc in cockscomb

“…The greater benefit was obtained with 1.5 ppm (T 3 ) and 2.5 ppm (T 4 ), where the plants' height, biomass, stem diameter, number buds and flower weight improved significantly up to 1.5-2.5 folds possibly owing to optimal metabolism obtained by the application of required Zn to plants (García-López et al, 2019) and due to the balancing level of macro and micronutrients (Rahman et al, 2018). The current results were similar to the findings of many previous studies, where the foliar application of Zn improved plant height in flowering plants (Shah et al, 2016;Rehman et al, 2018) because of its potential to induce auxin synthesis, cell division, function in photosynthesis and carbohydrate metabolism (Khan et al, 2018;Awan et al, 2019;Shoaib et al, 2020). The improvements in vegetative growth including stem diameter likely to be responsible for more accumulation of photosynthetic materials and as recorded in current study, photosynthetic pigments improved by 30-50% with application of different Zn levels (0.5-2.5 ppm).…”

“…Moreover, total protein content, activity of POX and PPO increased by 20-30% with all treatments, might show an active metabolic pool in the leaves because of high photosynthetic activity. Furthermore, high POX and PPO also revealed accumulation of phenolics, lignin and other defence-related secondary compounds in plant (Awan et al, 2019). POX activity accelerates lignin accumulation in cell wall, which not only increases mechanical strength of plant stalk, but also contributes in plant growth, tissue/organ development, resistance against lodging and variety of biotic and abiotic stresses (Pandey et al, 2017).…”

“…Kolade et al (2018) findings indicated that Zn fertilisation (50 mg ⋅ kg −1 ) in C. argentea improved the plant performance by increasing nitrogen, potassium and magnesium concentrations, thus significantly improved its dietary benefits for human. Awan et al (2019) and Shoaib et al (2020) findings revealed that basal Zn improved the photosynthetic pigment, activity of antioxidants (POX, CAT and PPO) in tomato and mung bean, respectively and alleviated the biotic stress in the plants. However, in many studies, the foliar application of Zn has shown 6 to 20 times more beneficial than the basal application, and foliar Zn has proved to be an efficient and economic method to significantly increase crop growth and yield.…”

Effects of Microelements on Downy Mildew (Peronospora belbahrii) of Sweet Basil

“…In this patho-system, Zn applied in combination with Mg sometimes had no beneficial effect, and other times had a synergistic disease-control effect. Zn applied in combination with N, P and K had a significant synergistic effect on early blight [ 38 ]. In the present research, however, combining Mg with Zn and Mn in the irrigation solution did not provide any further reduction in disease severity.…”

“…The application of Zn in combination with N, P and K for the potential control of early blight ( A. solani ) of tomato was associated with an increase in the total phenolic content and phenylalanine ammonia lyase (PAL) activity in plants. This suggests that these nutrients may have an additive effect on the production of salicylic acid, which may help to induce systemic resistance against a pathogen attack [ 38 ]. Similarly, in the coffee rust patho-system mentioned above, B, Zn and Mn significantly affected the concentration of total soluble phenols, while only Mn influenced the concentration of lignin [ 27 ].…”