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Harnessing cyanobacterium-fungal interactions to develop potting mixes for disease-free tomato nursery

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Abstract

Cyanobacteria and their interactions with phytopathogenic fungi in soil-less potting mixes is a less explored aspect in the protected cultivation of crops, as fungal diseases often bring about serious losses. The nursery of tomato was raised with A. laxa amended /unamended soil-less substrate mixes [P:C, perlite: cocopeat (1:1); C:V, cocopeat: vermiculite (1:1); P:C:V, perlite: cocopeat: vermiculite: (1:1:1)]. Preliminary investigation of percent germination of tomato seeds in the different media with the treatments illustrated the differential influence of the media, and Anabaena laxa amended treatments showing highest values, including those challenged with F. solani. To further understand the nature of such interactions in the rhizosphere, transplantation of 30 d-old seedlings was undertaken in mesocosm experiments deploying soil-less substrate mixes (P:C, C:V, P:C:V) challenged with /without Fusarium solani or Rhizoctonia solani. Significant increases of 10–46% were recorded in the total soil polysaccharides and dehydrogenase activity with F. solani, and in IAA with R. solani, compared to control. Among the treatments, T4 (A. laxa ± Fs) showed an almost 60% increase in terms of nitrogen and organic carbon content. This illustrated that A. laxa effectively interacted with both fungi and improved the nutrient availability in the media; interestingly, F. solani exhibited a growth stimulatory role. Cyanobacterium-fungal interactions led to better growth of tomato plants, illustrating that A. laxa amendment can be a promising option, particularly, in P:C:V, as media for developing robust and disease-free nurseries.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) for funds facilitated by the Network Project on Microorganisms “Application of Microorganisms in Agricultural and Allied Sectors” (AMAAS) New Delhi. The authors also thank the Division of Microbiology, Division of Agronomy, National Phytotron Facility (NPF) and Centre for Protected Cultivation Technology (CPCT), ICAR-IARI, for providing all the necessary facilities. Shri Gulab Singh is gratefully acknowledged for his help in the nutrient analyses.

Funding

Partly through the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) funded Network Project on Microorganisms “Application of Microorganisms in Agricultural and Allied Sectors” (AMAAS) New Delhi.

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  1. Jyoti Shukla and Udita Gulia contributed equally.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Microbiology, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, 110012, India

    Jyoti Shukla, Udita Gulia, Himani Gupta, Krati Gupta, Himanshu Mahawar, Sekar Nishanth, Garima Saxena, Lata Nain & Radha Prasanna

  2. Division of Plant Pathology, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, 110012, India

    Robin Gogoi

  3. National Phytotron Facility, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, 110012, India

    Arun Kumar

  4. Centre for Protected Cultivation Technology (CPCT), ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, 110012, India

    Awani Kumar Singh

  5. Division of Agronomy, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, 110012, India

    Yashbir Singh Shivay

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Contributions

RP conceptualized, planned and supervised the experiments; JS and UG conducted the experiments and analysed the data; JS wrote the draft manuscript, with inputs from UG, SN, HG, KG, HM who also helped in the analyses. LN, RG and GS provided useful inputs for the experimental work; AKS and AK helped in the raising of tomato nursery and YSS helped in the nutrient analyses, all provided critical inputs. RP undertook the final editing of the manuscript. All the authors approved the final version submitted.

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Correspondence to Radha Prasanna.

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ESM 1

Supplementary Fig. 1 Evaluation of selected microbiological parameters of cyanobacterium-amended potting media- tomato plant interactions and challenge of Rhizoctonia solani 48 DAT in soil mesocosm experiment. Rs, Rhizoctonia solani; IAA, indole-3- acetic acid; DAT, days after transplantation in pot; P:C, perlite: cocopeat (1:1); C:V, cocopeat: vermiculite (1:1); P:C:V, perlite: cocopeat: vermiculite (1:1:1). Data are means ± SD (n = 3) and P ≤ 0.05 (PNG 432 kb)

High resolution image (TIF 133 kb)

ESM 2

Supplementary Fig. 2 Estimation of organic carbon (in terms of percent increase over T1 Control) in cyanobacterium-amended potting media challenged with F. solani (a) among microbial amendments (b) among potting mixes and challenged with R. solani (c) among microbial amendments (b) among potting mixes, at 48 DAT. All experiments were done with tomato plants. Fs, Fusarium solani; Rs, Rhizoctonia solani; DAT, days after transplantation into pot; P: C, perlite: cocopeat (1:1); C: V, cocopeat: vermiculite (1:1); P: C: V, perlite: cocopeat: vermiculite (1:1:1); T1, Control; T2, A. laxa; T3, Fs/Rs; T4, A. laxa + Fs; T5, Biological control+ Fs; T6, Chemical control+ Fs/Rs. Data are means ± SD (n = 3) and P ≤ 0.05 (PDF 61 kb)

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Shukla, J., Gulia, U., Gupta, H. et al. Harnessing cyanobacterium-fungal interactions to develop potting mixes for disease-free tomato nursery. Phytoparasitica 51, 703–716 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12600-022-01011-4

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