Title: A chitosan from Aspergillus niger cultured on post-harvest waste based substrate promotes growth and induces defence responses in Oryzae sativa – a sustainable agronomical strategy

Abstract:

Global climatic changes and expansion of the world population is the major concern of food insecurities. Sustainable agriculture and environmental friendly strategies are emerging to intensify the crop improvement to challenge the issues in plant development, yield increase and protection against pests and pathogens. The present research involves induction of defense mechanism in Oryzae sativa by an elicitor (chitosan), extracted from the Aspergillus niger. The fungus was cultivated from the post-harvest wastes of paddy as substratum in solid-state fermentation.  Chitosan was extracted, characterized and used as a seed priming, antibacterial as well as a chemical elicitor for inducing the systemic responses of the rice. Interestingly, a significant increase in plant height with a higher number of lateral roots was observed in primed seeds when compared to control. Increased content of phenolic compounds and activity of peroxidases and polyphenol oxidase enzymes were evidenced in plantlets grown from the primed seeds. Thus, our results have established the potential of the novel chitosan to stimulate plant growth as well induce defense responses. Consequently, the application of chitosan will reduce the use of chemical pesticides, which will minimize the health hazards and pollution posed by chemicals.

Biography:

Stanley-Raja Vethamonickam is currently working as Senior Research Fellow in a DST-SERB project and perusing Ph.D in Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu, India. He has seven years of research experience working with various agricultural crop diseases and pest management. He is currently involving research in sustainable agricultural strategies to manage the rice diseases and pests. In this research elicitor compound which promotes plant growth as well as induce defense mechanism was extracted from fungus Aspergillus niger which was cultivated in the post-harvest paddy wastes thus providing an eco-friendly strategy to manage and utilize the agricultural wastes efficiently.