Control of Fusarium wilt of tomato in the greenhouse using silver nanofungicides

Abstract

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) is considered as one of the most economically important vegetable crops in the world. Its production is about 130 million tons, of which 88 million are specified for the fresh markets whereas, 42 million are processed (Anonymous, 2016). Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici causes a highly destructive vascular wilt disease of tomato leading to significant crop losses in the field and in protected tomatoes, thus remains as one of the main limiting factors for production of this crop (McGovern, 2015). Control of infectious plant diseases is the most important concern of crop production. However, resistance of phytopathogenic fungi to synthetic fungicides must be considered. According to Bouwmeester et al., (2009), the use of new mechanisms for plant disease control is basically required, however, recent development of nanopesticides can help to control many plant diseases. Sekhon, (2014); Ahmed and Lee, (2015) later added that the use of nanoparticles (NP) is considered as a promising alternative way to control phytopathogens.