A Novel Platform for Root Protection Applies New Root-Coating Technologies to Mitigate Soil-Borne Tomato Brown Rugose Fruit Virus Disease
Eyal Klein,
Elisheva Smith,
Chen Klap,
Elena Bakelman,
Arie Ophir,
Aviad Sela,
Elena Poverenov,
Dmitry Rein,
Yachin Cohen,
Dan Eliahu,
Shai Shahal,
Guy Mechrez,
Karthik Ananth Mani,
Pulikanti Guruprasad Reddy,
Abraham J. Domb,
Nadav Pass,
Aviv Dombrovsky
Affiliations
Eyal Klein
Hishtil Nurseries, Nehalim 4995000, Israel
Elisheva Smith
Hishtil Nurseries, Nehalim 4995000, Israel
Chen Klap
Department of Plant Pathology and Weed Research, Agricultural Research Organization, The Volcani Institute, Rishon LeZion 7505101, Israel
Elena Bakelman
Department of Plant Pathology and Weed Research, Agricultural Research Organization, The Volcani Institute, Rishon LeZion 7505101, Israel
Arie Ophir
Department of Plant Pathology and Weed Research, Agricultural Research Organization, The Volcani Institute, Rishon LeZion 7505101, Israel
Aviad Sela
The Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot 761001, Israel
Elena Poverenov
Agro-Nanotechnology and Advanced Materials Center, Department of Food Science, Agricultural Research Organization, The Volcani Institute, Rishon LeZion 7505101, Israel
Dmitry Rein
Department of Chemical Engineering, Technion—Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa 3200003, Israel
Yachin Cohen
Department of Chemical Engineering, Technion—Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa 3200003, Israel
Dan Eliahu
PolyGreen Ltd., North Industrial Zone, Nahariya 2231103, Israel
Shai Shahal
PolyGreen Ltd., North Industrial Zone, Nahariya 2231103, Israel
Guy Mechrez
Agro-Nanotechnology and Advanced Materials Center, Department of Food Science, Agricultural Research Organization, The Volcani Institute, Rishon LeZion 7505101, Israel
Karthik Ananth Mani
Agro-Nanotechnology and Advanced Materials Center, Department of Food Science, Agricultural Research Organization, The Volcani Institute, Rishon LeZion 7505101, Israel
Pulikanti Guruprasad Reddy
School of Pharmacy-Faculty of Medicine, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem 9112002, Israel
Abraham J. Domb
School of Pharmacy-Faculty of Medicine, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem 9112002, Israel
Nadav Pass
Hishtil Nurseries, Nehalim 4995000, Israel
Aviv Dombrovsky
Department of Plant Pathology and Weed Research, Agricultural Research Organization, The Volcani Institute, Rishon LeZion 7505101, Israel
Tomato brown rugose fruit virus (ToBRFV) is a soil-borne virus showing a low percentage of ca. 3% soil-mediated infection when the soil contains root debris from a previous 30–50 day growth cycle of ToBRFV-infected tomato plants. We designed stringent conditions of soil-mediated ToBRFV infection by increasing the length of the pre-growth cycle to 90–120 days, adding a ToBRFV inoculum as well as truncating seedling roots, which increased seedling susceptibility to ToBRFV infection. These rigorous conditions were employed to challenge the efficiency of four innovative root-coating technologies in mitigating soil-mediated ToBRFV infection while avoiding any phytotoxic effect. We tested four different formulations, which were prepared with or without the addition of various virus disinfectants. We found that under conditions of 100% soil-mediated ToBRFV infection of uncoated positive control plants, root-coating with formulations based on methylcellulose (MC), polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), silica Pickering emulsion and super-absorbent polymer (SAP) that were prepared with the disinfectant chlorinated-trisodium phosphate (Cl-TSP) showed low percentages of soil-mediated ToBRFV infection of 0%, 4.3%, 5.5% and 0%, respectively. These formulations had no adverse effect on plant growth parameters when compared to negative control plants grown under non ToBRFV inoculation conditions.