Plant Growth Promoting Fungi from Zoysiagrass Rhizosphere as Potential Inducers of Systemic Resistance in Cucumbers

The Plant Growth-promoting Fungus Penicillium spp. GP15-1 Enhances Growth and Confers Protection against Damping-off and Anthracnose in the Cucumber

“…It is now well-established that biological control can be due to many different types of interactions between plant pathogens and biological control agents BCAs or their products. According to the U.S. Na-nisms by BCAs or their metabolites is the most common form of indirect effect 2,3 .…”

“…PGPR could also reduce pathogen infections on distal plant parts by a recently discovered mechanism usually known as induced systemic resistance ISR 6 10 . Similar to PGPR, some rhizosphere fungi are able to promote plant growth upon root colonization or after treatment with their metabolites and are functionally designated as plant-growthpromoting-fungi PGPF 2,11 . Initially, PGPF were reported as species belonging to the genera Trichoderma, Penicillium, and Phoma and sterile fungi 11 14 .…”

“…These PGPF allow plants to utilize decomposing organic matter through mineral solubilization 2 ; to produce bioactive substances, such as plant hormones 17 ; to increase plant fitness under abiotic stresses 16 ; and to suppress plant pathogens in the rhizosphere by antagonistic mechanisms, such as the production of hydrolytic enzymes, aggressive mycoparasitism, competition for saprophytic colonization, and the induction of plant systemic resistance 12, 18 20 .…”

Involvement of the Salicylic Acid Signaling Pathway in the Systemic Resistance Induced in Arabidopsis by Plant Growth-Promoting Fungus Fusarium equiseti GF19-1

“…Therefore, the mechanisms of growth promotion could involve the ability of the fungus to provide minerals to plants in a more available form rather than to its ability to produce growth-regulating substances 32 . This evidence suggests that colonization of roots to a certain extent by introduced beneficial microorganisms is necessary to exert beneficial effects on the plant 12,33 . The root colonization assays showed that GF19-1 successfully colonized the Arabidopsis root, showing abundant hyphal growth on the root surface.…”

“…The roots were then cut into approximately 0.5-cm-long segments, plated on Komada s Fusarium selective medium 25 and incubated for 3 days at 25 . After incubation, GF19-1 colonies growing from the root segments were counted, and the isolation frequency was determined as described by Meera et al 1994 12 . Root colonization ability was measured based on the isolation frequency.…”