Phenol and antioxidant enzymatic activity in root knot nematode, Meloidogyne incognita infected tomato plants treated with chitosan nanoparticles

Abstract

Root knot nematode, Meloidogyne spp. causes severe yield losses in vegetable crops. Chitosan is one of the most abundant biopolymer available worldwide next to cellulose. It is known to have anti-nemic, anti-fungal and anti-bacterial properties. Application of chitosan induces systemic resistance in tomato plants against pathogens by increasing phenolic content and antioxidant enzymes viz., Polyphenol oxidase, Superoxide dismutase and phytoalexins. A study was conducted to study the phenol content and activity of antioxidant enzymes, polyphenol oxidase and peroxidase activities in root knot nematode infected tomato plants treated with chiotsan nanoparticles. The antioxidant enzymatic activities were recorded after 25 th day of nematode inoculation. It was observed that the phenolic content increased due to the application of chitosan nanoparticle in nematode infected plants (174.32 µg/g of root) compared to 160.37 µg/g of root in untreated plants. Similarly the peroxidase and polyphenol oxidase activity also increased in chitosan nanoparticle treated nematode infected plants. The study revealed that chitosan nano particles protect plants from root knot nematode infection by increasing the phenol content, peroxidase and polyphenol oxidase activity and induce systemic resistance against nemayodes.

Domateste Kök Ur Nematodu Mücadelesinde Kitosanın Toprak ve Yaprak Uygulamaları

“…This widespread use is thought to be due to the property of chitosan to trigger the plant's defense system locally and systemically (El Hadrami et al, 2010). Besides, previous studies have presented that chitosan is able to induce systemic resistance against nematodes and then can protect plants from root-knot nematode infection (Mouniga et al, 2022). Chitosan particles have been reported to activate multiple signaling pathways in the case when they are recognized by specific receptors on cell membranes or cells, enabling a range of physiological responses including the secretion of antinematode enzymes, production of antinematode compounds, cell wall reinforcement and hypersensitive response (HR)mediated cell death (Hirano et al, 1999;Sato et al, 2019).…”