Systemic elicitation of defense related enzymes suppressing Fusarium wilt in mulberry (Morus spp.)

Antagonist and organic amendments based bioconsortia (seri bed waste+Pf1+Bs4+Th1+neem cake) was found to lead the restriction of Fusarium solani pathogen in mulberry roots mainly by inducing inherent defense enzymes. Induction of defense enzymes such as peroxidase, polyphenoloxidase, phenylalanine ammonia lyase, phenols, catalase and superoxide dismutase, was studied in mulberry plants pretreated with bioconsortia and comparative fungicides challenged inoculation with Fusarium solani in glasshouse condition. There was increased expression of defense enzymes in mulberry plants treated with bioconsortia, when compared to control. The bio-chemical reaction of the above defense enzymes started to increase at the 3rd day, reached maximum on the 5th day and thereafter declined gradually. The native polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) experiment showed that one to four isoforms of the defense enzymes each with greater intensity were expressed in these treatments. This is indicating that the restriction of F. solani in mulberry plants was mainly due to application of microbial bio-consortia.   Key words: Bio-consortia, defense enzymes, Fusarium wilt, isoforms, mulberry.