Physiological mechanisms involved in resistance to cotton verticillium wilt induced by AM fungi

Abstract

It was proved that arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi played an important role in increasing plant resistance to soilborne pathogens, especially when plants were pre-inoculated with AM fungi. Mechanisms involved in this phenomenon are not yet well understood. On the basis of the former experiment results in our lab, effects of AM fungi on cotton Verticillium wilt and the mechanisms of increasing disease resisitance by the tested fungi were studied in pot culture under greenhouse conditions. Two cotton cutivars Litai 8 and 86-1 which are susceptible to Verticillium dahliae were pre-inoculated with Glomus fasiculatum, and Gigaspora margarita, then inoculated with the strain of Verticillium dahliae, namely “An-Yang” (belong to intermediate virulent type) 30 days after the former inoculation. Results showed that AM fungi could improve the growth and development of cotton plants, increase plants dry mass, decrease incidence and disease index of Verticillium wilt of cotton plants, inhibit the infection and development of V. dahliae to different extent in the rhizosphere of cotton pre-inoculated with AM fungi, while the colonization and spore numbers of AM fungi were not reduced significantly by this pathogen. The defence enzymes, such as phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL), chitinase, β-1,3-glucanase, peroxidase, polyphenoloxidase (PPO) were induced, and their activities and peak increased by AM fungi in roots and leaves, and the increasing speed and peak of the enzyme activity were higher in treatment with AM fungus preinoculation than the inoculation with only V. dahliae, which suggested that defense response was activated by AM fungi, and then made the cotton to react strongly and rapidly to the infection of V. dahliae. In addition, AM fungi decreased the content of malondiadehyde (MDA) in cotton roots and leaves, protected membrane system and alleviated the damage caused by the pathogen. The AM fungus, Glomus fasiculatum showed the superior effects of biological control. It was concluded that AM fungi could provide the biological control to cotton diseases and there were application prospects of this biological agents.

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