Comparative effect of gr24 phytohormone and two fungal species alone or in combination in increasing resistance of two tomato cultivars against fusarium wilt disease

In this study, the effect of two fungal species and also a strigolacton phytohormone was evaluated on inducing resistance in two tomato cultivars infected with fusarium wilt disease. In this greenhouse experiment, two cultivars of tomato namely, Captain and 4129 and Trichoderma reesei, Rhizophagus irregularis and GR24 phytohormone (106µM) were used. For this purpose, a factorial experiment was used in a completely randomized design with three replications in different time periods after inoculation of the pathogen (0, 7, 15, 35 days). The effect of biocontrol treatments on changes of some antioxidant enzymes, phenol, total protein and disease severity was assayed. Data analysis showed that the highest activity of all three enzymes with different values for both cultivars occurred during 35 days after inoculation. Among combined and single treatments, application of a combination of three biocontrol factors (T. reesei, R. irregularis and GR24 phytohormone), respectively showed significant effect on increase of measured parameters compared with other treatments. Based on the results of this study it is suggested that application of all three agents in liquid form can be considered as a limiting factor for the growth of the pathogen on the seed surface besides inducing resistance against disease.