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Efficacy of Green Synthesized Silver Based Nanomaterials Against Early Blight of Tomato Caused by Alternaria solani

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Abstract

Tomato production is significantly harmed by the interruption of fungal pathogens, i.e., Alternaria solani, the causal agent of early blight, which is responsible for substantial yield losses in tomato crops. In recent years, the application of silver-based green synthesized nanomaterials (AgNMs) has been documented as the best performer against various plant diseases. However, the knowledge about applying green-synthesized AgNMs for the management of early blight and its impact on the components of the antioxidant defense system, especially in tomatoes, still needs to be discovered. Therefore, in the current study, two green synthesized viz. wild gourd (Citrullus colocynthis) and rough cocklebur (Xanthium strumarium) AgNMs were applied at three different concentrations to check their efficacy against the early blight of tomatoes and the components of the antioxidant defense system of tomato plants. Results revealed that C. colocynthis-based AgNMs were found to be most effective and exhibited disease incidence of A. solani (22%) with a significant increase in tomato production (13%) along with the number of fruits/plants. Moreover, application of C. colocynthis-based AgNMs improved the concentration of ascorbic acid (1240, 997 µg/mL), total phenolic contents (950, 800 µg/mL), flavonoids (111, 88 mg/g), hydrogen peroxide (0.0013, 0.001 U/mg), amylase (110, 89 U/mL), chlorophyll a (0.31, 0.25 mg/g), chlorophyll b (0.22, 0.16 mg/g), and total chlorophyll (0.61, 0.50 mg/g) in treated plants of resistant and susceptible varieties of tomato respectively, than that of control. It is concluded that applying green synthesized AgNMs may be a viable alternative to synthetic chemicals for managing the early blight of tomatoes.

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Data Availability Statement

Not applicable.

Abbreviations

EB:

early blight

ZnO:

zinc oxide

MgO:

magnesium oxide

NPs:

nanoparticles

AgNMs:

silver nanomaterial

SEM:

Scanning electron microscopy

XRD:

X‑ray diffraction (XRD)

Ti:

titanium

Ag:

silver

Se:

selenium

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Acknowledgements

Authors thank Dr. Ahmad Latif Virk for his revision and suggestions to improve this manuscript.

Funding

We are highly thankful to Molecular Phytobacteriology Lab for providing research facilities under NRPU-HEC project # 9315.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Plant Pathology, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, 38000, Faisalabad, Pakistan

    Muhammad Usman, Muhammad Atiq, Nasir Ahmed Rajput, Shahbaz Talib Sahi, Shahid Iqbal, Asif Mahmood Arif & Usama Ahmad

  2. School of Biological Sciences, University of Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan

    Mohsin Shad

  3. College of Forestry, Gansu Agricultural University, 730070, Lanzhou, China

    Nian Lili

  4. Institute of Plant Protection, MNS-University of Agriculture, 66000, Multan, Pakistan

    Asif Mahmood Arif

  5. College of Agronomy and Biotechnology, China Agricultural University, 100193, Beijing, China

    Khurram Shehzad Khan & Muhammad Asif

  6. Key Laboratory of Vegetation Restoration and Management of Degraded Ecosystems, South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 510650, Guangzhou, China

    Fasih Ullah Haider

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  1. Muhammad Usman
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Contributions

Conceptualization, Muhammad Atiq and Nasir Ahmed Rajput; methodology, Muhammad Usman and Asif Mahmood Arif; software, Muhammad Usman, Khurram Shehzad Khan and Fasih Ullah Haider, Usama Ahmad; investigation, Shahbaz Talib Sahi; resources, Muhammad Atiq and Mohsin Shad; data curation, Muhammad Usman and Shahid Iqbal; writing—original draft preparation, Muhmmad Usman; writing—review and editing, Muhammad Atiq, Muhammad Asif, and Fasih Ullah Haider. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Muhammad Atiq or Fasih Ullah Haider.

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Conflict of interest

M. Usman, M. Atiq, N.A. Rajput, S.T. Sahi, M. Shad, N. Lili, S. Iqbal, A.M. Arif, U. Ahmad, K.S. Khan, M. Asif and F.U. Haider declare that they have no competing interests.

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Usman, M., Atiq, M., Rajput, N.A. et al. Efficacy of Green Synthesized Silver Based Nanomaterials Against Early Blight of Tomato Caused by Alternaria solani. Journal of Crop Health 76, 105–115 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10343-023-00957-7

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