Skip to main navigation menu Skip to main content Skip to site footer
Plant Science Today (PST)

Research Articles

Early Access

Effect of Trichoderma harzianum Rifai and mycorrhizal fungi on total phenolics, peroxidase and glycoalkaloids in Fusarium oxysporum Schltdl. infected tomato plants

DOI
https://doi.org/10.14719/pst.13308
Submitted
22 December 2025
Published
17-03-2026

Abstract

Pathogenicity tests of Fusarium oxysporum Schltdl. isolates on tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) demonstrated a significant capacity to induce seed rot and seedling damping-off under greenhouse conditions. The most virulent isolate, confirmed via polymerase chain reaction (PCR), was selected for further study. Inoculation with Trichoderma harzianum and mycorrhizal fungi substantially enhanced the total phenolic content and peroxidase (POX) enzyme activity in F. oxysporum-infected plants. Furthermore, high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis revealed that these biological control agents significantly boosted the biosynthesis of key secondary metabolites, specifically the glycoalkaloids (GAs) α-tomatine, tomatidine and solanine. The interaction between F. oxysporum and T. harzianum resulted in the highest accumulation of these defense-related compounds compared to plants infected with the pathogen alone. These findings suggest that T. harzianum and mycorrhizal fungi activate the plant’s systemic resistance by modulating physiological and biochemical defense mechanisms against Fusarium wilt.

References

  1. 1. Sekyewa C. Incidence, distribution and characteristics of major tomato yellow leaf curl and mosaic virus diseases in Uganda [PhD thesis]. Ghent (Belgium): Ghent University; 2006.
  2. 2. Gerszberg A, Hnatuszko-Konka K, Kowalczyk T, Kononowicz AK. Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) in the service of biotechnology. Plant Cell Tissue Organ Cult. 2015;120(3):881–902. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11240-014-0664-4
  3. 3. FAO. Tomato world production statistics. FAOSTAT Database. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations; 2018.
  4. 4. Mohan A, Daniel D, Chertkov M, Livescu D. Compressed convolutional LSTM: an efficient deep learning framework to model high fidelity 3D turbulence. arXiv. 2019;1903.00033.
  5. 5. Agrios GN. Plant pathology. 5th ed. New York (USA): Academic Press; 2005. 633 p.
  6. 6. Cai G, Gale LR, Schneider RW, Kistler HC, Davis RM, Elias KS, et al. Origin of race 3 of Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici at a single site in California. Phytopathology. 2003;93(8):1014–22. https://doi.org/10.1094/PHYTO.2003.93.8.1014
  7. 7. Leslie JF, Summerell BA. The Fusarium laboratory manual. Ames (IA, USA): Blackwell Publishing; 2006. 388 p.
  8. 8. Amini J, Sidovich D. The effects of fungicides on Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici associated with fusarium wilt of tomato. J Plant Prot Res. 2010;50(2):172–3. https://doi.org/10.2478/v10045-010-0029-0
  9. 9. Reis A, Costa H, Boiteux LS, Lopes CA. First report of Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici race 3 on tomato in Brazil. Fitopatol Bras. 2005;30:426–8. https://doi.org/10.1590/S0100-41582005000400013
  10. 10. Harman GE. Overview of mechanisms and uses of Trichoderma spp. Phytopathology. 2006;96(2):190–4. https://doi.org/10.1094/PHYTO-96-0190
  11. 11. Shamran ZT. Evaluation of the effectiveness of some biological agents and microorganism preparations EM-1 against the fungus Macrophomina phaseolina [Master’s thesis]. Al-Musayyib (Iraq): Al-Furat Al-Awsat Technical University; 2017.
  12. 12. Akrami M, Zohreh Y. Biological control of fusarium wilt of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) by Trichoderma spp. as antagonist fungi. 2015;7(1):887–92.
  13. 13. Bisen K, Keswani C, Patel JS, Sarma BK, Singh HB. Trichoderma spp.: efficient inducers of systemic resistance in plants. In: Choudhary DK, Varma A, editors. Microbial-mediated induced systemic resistance in plants. Singapore: Springer; 2016. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-0388-2_12
  14. 14. Finlay RD. Ecological aspects of mycorrhizal symbiosis with special emphasis on functional diversity. J Exp Bot. 2008;59(5):1115–26. https://doi.org/10.1093/jxb/ern049
  15. 15. Matloob AAH, Abid AY, Khadhair KZ. Efficiency of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and PGPR to control Fusarium chlamydosporum in date palm. Iraqi J Agric Sci. 2017;48(2):507–19.
  16. 16. Farooq M, Basra SMA, Saleem BA, Nafees M, Chishti SA. Enhancement of tomato seed germination and seedling vigor by osmo-priming. Pak J Agric. 2005;42(3–4):36–41.
  17. 17. Whitaker JR, Bernhard BA. Experiments for an introduction to enzymology. Davis (CA, USA): The Whbier Press; 1972.
  18. 18. Monsef-Esfahani HR, Faramarzi MA, Mortezaee V, Amini M, Rouini MR. Determination of harmine and harmaline in Peganum harmala seeds by HPLC. J Appl Sci. 2008;8(9):1761–5. https://doi.org/10.3923/jas.2008.1761.1765
  19. 19. Biju VC, Fokkens L. Multiple evolutionary trajectories led to the emergence of races in Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici. Environ Microbiol. 2017;19(4):1557–68. https://doi.org/10.1111/1462-2920.13683
  20. 20. Song W. Role of salicylic acid and ethylene in resistance induced by Trichoderma in tomato plants. Chin Sci Bull. 2009;54:1880–6. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11434-009-0210-6
  21. 21. Al-Hajiyyat HHY. Induction of resistance against the citrus nematode Tylenchulus semipenetrans [Master’s thesis]. Mosul (Iraq): University of Mosul; 2015.
  22. 22. Cervilla LM, Blasco B, Ríos JJ, Romero L, Ruiz JM. Oxidative stress and antioxidants in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) plants subjected to boron toxicity. Ann Bot. 2007;100(4):747–56. https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcm156
  23. 23. Oulé S, Vázquez A, González G, Moyna P, Ferreira F. Preparative isolation of Solanum tuberosum L. glycoalkaloids by MPLC. Potato Res. 1997;40(4):413–6. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02358001
  24. 24. Hu-zhe Z, Chun-lan CU, Yu-ting Z, Dan WA, Yu JI, Yong KK. Active changes of lignification-related enzymes in pepper response to Glomus intraradices. J Zhejiang Univ Sci. 2005;6(8):778–86. https://doi.org/10.1631/jzus.2005.B0778
  25. 25. Gechev TS, Van Breusegem F. Reactive oxygen species as signals that modulate plant stress responses. BioEssays. 2006;28(11):1091–101. https://doi.org/10.1002/bies.20479
  26. 26. Hassan ME, Abd El-Rahman SS, El-Abbasi IH, Mikhail MS. Changes in peroxidase activity due to resistance induced against bean chocolate spot disease. Egypt J Phytopathol. 2007;35:35–48.
  27. 27. Fard MD, Habibi D, Fard FD. Effect of PGPR and foliar application of amino acid on antioxidant activity of wheat. Proc 2nd Int Conf Chem Eng Appl. 2011:80–5.
  28. 28. Liao KL, Bai XF, Friedman A. IL-27 in combination with anti-PD-1 can be anti-cancer or pro-cancer. J Theor Biol. 2024;579:111704. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtbi.2023.111704
  29. 29. Bashan Y, De-Bashan LE. Protection of tomato seedlings against Pseudomonas syringae by Azospirillum brasilense. Appl Environ Microbiol. 2002;68(6):2637–43. https://doi.org/10.1128/AEM.68.6.2637-2643.2002
  30. 30. Friedman M, Levin CE. Alpha-tomatine content in tomato products determined by HPLC. J Agric Food Chem. 1995;43(6):1507–11. https://doi.org/10.1021/jf00054a017
  31. 31. Lee KJ, Lee GA, Ma KH, Raveendar S, Cho YH, Lee JR, et al. Chemical constitutions and antioxidant activities of tomato leaf extracts. Plant Breed Biotechnol. 2016;4(3):362–72. https://doi.org/10.9787/PBB.2016.4.3.362
  32. 32. Monsef HR, Ghobadi A, Iranshahi M, Abdollahi M.Antinociceptive effects of Peganum harmala L. alkaloid extract. J Pharm Pharm Sci. 2004;7(1):65–9.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.