Role of Plant defence system in crop protection against Fusarium pathogens

Abstract

Fusarium pathogens are causal agents of several crop diseases and produce harmful mycotoxins resulting in crop and yield reduction worldwide. Among crop diseases, Fusarium wilt, Fusarium head blight, and Fusarium root blight are mostly reported diseases in numerous vegetables, crops, and fruits and have posed pressure on current food production and safety. In addition, the production of mycotoxins further aggravates plant health and causes serious health risks in humans and animals through food chain contamination. Different management practices have been enlisted in this chapter to reduce or eradicate Fusarium wilt in different crops. Interestingly, various mechanisms developed by plants have also been highlighted to fight against Fusarium pathogens and limit the growth of mycotoxins. One of defence mechanisms is plant antioxidant mechanisms to reduce oxidative stress by increasing enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants to maintain cellular homeostasis under Fusarium infection. The other defence response is through hormonal signalling to combat fungal pathogens. Different phytohormones such as salicylic acid, ethylene, jasmonate, abscisic acid, cytokinin, auxin, and other plant secondary metabolites play a crucial part in the reduction of Fusarium growth and inhibit mycotoxin production through defence-related genes. Further, the use of different pre-harvest and post-harvest strategies has been elucidated to enhance plant resistance and growth by decreasing fungal pathogenicity and virulence.