One of the major need in agriculture is the protection of plants against biotic stresses and in the last few years the use of environmental and human friendly molecules has become more and more important. These principles should be able to kill the pathogens without harming the environment. Electrolyzed Water (EW) has recently been used in several industrial applications thanks to its strong disinfectant ability. EW is a mildly saline solution that, after electrolysis, contains reactive oxidative species (ClO-, HClO) characterized by a short life span and a potent antimicrobial activity. It has been observed that the application of EW on apple plants in orchards infected by Nectria galligena caused a drastic interruption of the pathogenic cycle and a robust healing of the lesions. To understand this phenomenon molecular and cellular analyses were carried out to study the induction of specific markers of the plant defence strategies (SAR and HR) caused by EW treatments. Moreover, mutant tobacco plants lacking salicylic acid (NahG) were employed to evaluate which signalling molecules are involved in this activation. Results will be presented showing that EW is indeed able to stimulate endogenous defences by inducing several pathogen-related genes, both in tobacco and apple plants.
The antimicrobial Electrolyzed Water fights phytopathogens and triggers the plant endogenous defences
DE BASTIANI, Morena;DONATONI, Martina;CIVOLANI, Stefano;FERRO, Sergio;DE BATTISTI, Achille;BERNACCHIA, Giovanni
2012
Abstract
One of the major need in agriculture is the protection of plants against biotic stresses and in the last few years the use of environmental and human friendly molecules has become more and more important. These principles should be able to kill the pathogens without harming the environment. Electrolyzed Water (EW) has recently been used in several industrial applications thanks to its strong disinfectant ability. EW is a mildly saline solution that, after electrolysis, contains reactive oxidative species (ClO-, HClO) characterized by a short life span and a potent antimicrobial activity. It has been observed that the application of EW on apple plants in orchards infected by Nectria galligena caused a drastic interruption of the pathogenic cycle and a robust healing of the lesions. To understand this phenomenon molecular and cellular analyses were carried out to study the induction of specific markers of the plant defence strategies (SAR and HR) caused by EW treatments. Moreover, mutant tobacco plants lacking salicylic acid (NahG) were employed to evaluate which signalling molecules are involved in this activation. Results will be presented showing that EW is indeed able to stimulate endogenous defences by inducing several pathogen-related genes, both in tobacco and apple plants.I documenti in SFERA sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
