Russo, Assunta (2023) Highlights in plant multitrophic interactions: beneficial microorganisms for sustainable agriculture. [Tesi di dottorato]

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Abstract

Plants are central to complex networks of multitrophic interactions that seriously affect and compromise crop quality and yield. The growing demand for safer agri-food products, using fewer pesticides and fertilisers, stimulated research on understanding and management of beneficial microorganisms (BMs) for agriculture, and the exploitation of plants and microbial volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that drive such relations between plants, BMs, and herbivores, as a solution to enhance both crop defense and production. Among BMs, microbial endophytes, which are associated with the majority of plant species, and their bioactive products, were identified as environmentally friendly options plant biocontrol agent. We carried out an in-depth study to investigate whether a complex multi-trophic interaction involving tomato, the BM Beauveria bassiana and the pathogenic fungus Botrytis cinerea exists. First, we investigated if plant-BM interactions could be driven by volatile organic compounds(VOCs) released by plants constitutively or induced by abiotic or biotic stresses. Then, we focused on deciphering endophyte behaviour of the entomopathogenic fungus B. bassiana, known to be able to colonise a wide range of host plants, and to be used as an alternative for the sustainable management of insect pests. We used tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.), as experimental model plant, testing whether plants are colonized by the endophytes, and how plant colonization affects physiological parameters of tomato plants which were grown under control (unstressed) conditions, or simultaneously exposed to the pathogenic fungus B. cinerea, a cause of substantial losses in tomato crops worldwide. We further tried to assess in vitro whether fungal VOCs (fVOCs) are involved on the effect of B. bassiana against B. cinerea. An airborne and direct communication method between to fungi was proposed to be used as experimental tool for testing VOCs communication between fungi. Moreover, as fungi emit a broad spectrum of species-specific VOCs, volatilomes of four species of T. harzianum were characterized, which may help with fungal detection and identification in vivo, as well as for real-time studies on multitrophic interactions between beneficial microorganisms and host plants. Results of the work carried out contributed to a better understanding on plant-multitrophic interactions and to valorisation and use of BMs to improve plant growth and minimize the use of pesticides and other unsustainable or noxious agricultural practices.

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