New insight on tomato seed priming with Anabaena minutissima phycobiliproteins in relation to Rhizoctonia solani root rot resistance and seedling growth promotion

Abstract Cyanobacteria phycobiliproteins (PBPs) are already exploited in the food industries and for biotechnological applications but not in the agricultural field. Different concentrations (0.6 – 4.8 mg/mL) of Anabaena minutissima PBPs were applied to tomato seed to study their priming effect against the soil-borne fungal pathogen Rhizoctonia solani and in promoting plant growth. PBPs increased seedling emergence and vigour, showed activity against root rot disease (67%), and enhanced plant dry weight, length, and height. Generally, no dose effect has been observed except for dry weight (55% at 4.8 mg/mL). Seed treatment primed seeds and seedlings by leading to the activation of defence responses raising phenol (26% in hypocotyls) and flavonoid (26 and 45% in hypocotyls and epicotyls, respectively) contents and chitinase (4-fold at 2.4 and 4.8 mg/mL in hypocotyls) and β-1,3-D-glucanase (up to about 2-fold at all doses in epicotyls) activities. Micro-Attenuated Total Reflection Fourier Transform Infrared revealed changes in functional groups of primed seeds, hypocotyls and exudates released into the agar because of treatment. Protein extract from PBP-primed seedlings inhibited mycelial growth (67% for epicotyl proteins) and caused morphological alterations in hyphae. This research emphasizes the potential priming role of PBPs applied by seed treatment against soil-borne pathogens.