IN VITRO EFFECT OF COPPER OXYCHLORIDE NANOPARTICLES ON FUSARIUM WILT DISEASE RESISTANCE IN SOLANUM LYCOPERSICUM THROUGH SEEDLING ROOT TREATMENT

Tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum) are one of the most extensively produced vegetables globally. Fusarium wilt is caused by the fungus Fusarium oxysporum, which is a major pathogen of tomato vascular wilt and a soil-borne pathogen that causes yield losses. In earlier studies, copper (nanoparticles) NPs were reported by many researchers for the management of diseases in crops. To overcome this wilt problem in tomatoes, attempts were made to identify the significant use of copper oxychloride (COC). Here, in the present report, the further enhancement of nanofungicide is reported using copper oxychloride NPs and silver (Ag)-doped copper oxychloride NPs, which were studied against the wilt pathogen. The antifungal activity and the minimum inhibitory concentration of COC and Ag-doped COC was discussed. The root dip method demonstrates that COC NPs and Ag-doped COC NPs were used to treat tomato seeds. The seedlings coated with 8 mg of COC NPs and Ag-doped COC NPs in the presence of Fusarium oxysporum showed excellent growth in both root and shoot length, with only a very small amount of wilting observed at this concentration after 2 weeks. Chlorophyll and carotenoid estimation were done to compare the differences between the COC-coated and Fusarium oxysporum-infected seedlings. In contrast, the control seedlings without any treatment showed wilting within one week. The result revealed that the NPs at an 8 mg concentration combined with Fusarium oxysporum showed a synergistic effect in inducing disease resistance in tomato seedlings at the early stage of wilt resistance. As a result, it is a simple and rapid method for screening induced resistance at an early stage, which will help evaluate bioagents for their effectiveness.