Respuestas fisiológicas de Zea mays durante la infección por Ustilago maydis bajo diferentes concentraciones de humus en suelo

Abstract

The available resources during plant development, sometimes plant can be limited due to energy used during physiological plant defense to pathogens attacks. The main of this work was the physiological analysis of Zea mays plants development under different sustainable fertilization systems, as the earthworm-humus, and their relation with the response to Ustilago maydis infection, a biotrophyc fungus that causes the disease known as common coal or cuitlacoche in corn. Mize seedlings developed with different % of humus/soil under greenhouse conditions were inoculated with U. maydis (T1), and plants not inoculated as control (T0). Physiological and growth measurements in T1 showed a significant effect on the plant, the best was a 25%. After infection, the plants growth was lower as a result in decrease in photosynthesis activity, however, the presence of humus partially counteracts the fungus infection. High concentrations of humus reflected a negative effect on plant growth. In the future, the studies in the field will serve to deduce the importance of these agricultural practices in plant-fungus responses.