Nematode Stress Mitigation by Polyamine Application in Lycopersicon esculentum Khajuria Anjali, Ohri Puja* Department of Zoology, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, Punjab, 143005, India *Corresponding author E-mail: ohri_puja_11@rediffmail.com
Online published on 27 November, 2018. Abstract Polyamines (PAs) are the group of phytohormones involved in many physiological processes, and respond to stress tolerance to various environmental factors. In the present study, we evaluated the effect of spermine (spm, an important PA) on the tolerance of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) to oxidative stress induced by nematode (Meloidogyne incognita) infection. Investigation was aimed to study the impact of spm on the physiological and biochemical responses of tomato under nematode stress. Application of spm was found to improve growth of nematode infected plants in terms of root length, shoot length, fresh and dry root and shoot weights. Data also indicated that application of spm mitigates the nematode stress on tomato plants. Additionally, spm application modulated the activities of antioxidative enzymes (SOD, CAT, APOX, GuPOX, PPO, PAL, POX) and more remarkably the levels of antioxidants (total phenolic, flavonoid, acsorbate and glutathione contents). Attenuation of nematodestress by spm was also supported by enhanced values of stress indices such as photosynthetic pigments and reduction in malondialdehyde and H2O2 levels in infected plants. In total, our results demonstrates nematode stress mitigation by spm treatment in tomato plants by lowering the nematode induced oxidative stress and improving the growth of tomato plants even during nematode pathogenesis. Top Keywords Polyamines, Lycoperscicon esculentum, Meloidogyne incognita, oxidative stress. Top |