Abstract
Conclusive evidence is presented here for the implication of silicon in the enhanced resistance of pearl millet to Sclerospora graminicola. Exogenous application of silicon dioxide through seed priming enhanced the germination and vigour of seed quality parameters. Further, with optimised conditions, seed priming in combination with SiO2 soil drenching and foliar spray was effective at protecting pearl millet plants against downy mildew and reduced disease by 78% compared with the control. There is a positive relationship between silicon level in tissues of pearl millet of various cultivars and their degree of downy mildew resistance; for example, resistant cultivar IP19892 had 82 mg/gDWof silicon and highly susceptible cultivar 7042S had 31 mg/g DW of silicon. Exogenous application of silicon was found to augment the silicon level and resistance of the susceptible cultivar. Histological observation of leaves showed higher silicon accumulation in the resistant cultivar compared with the susceptible cultivar. During resistance development in plants treated with silicon, the structural fortification with hydroxyproline-rich glycoprotein was observed and this was relatively and directly proportional to the level of silicon deposition.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abdul-Baki A, Anderson JD (1973) Vigor analysis in soybean seed by multiple criteria. Crop Science 13, 630–633.
Belanger RR, Benhamou N, Menzies JG (2003) Cytological evidence of an active role of silicon in wheat resistance of powdery mildew (Blumeria graminis f. sp. tritici). Phytopathology 93, 402–412. doi: 10.1094/PHYTO.2003.93.4.402
Chérif M, Benhamou N, Menzies JG, Bélanger RR (1992) Silicon induced resistance in cucumber plants against Pythium ultimum. Physiological and Molecular Plant Pathology 41, 411–425. doi: 10.1016/0885-5765(92)90053-X
Chérif M, Asselin A, Belanger RR (1994) Defense responses induced by soluble silicon in cucumber roots infected by Pythium spp. Phytopathology 84, 236–242. doi: 10.1094/Phyto-84-236
Dann EK, Muir S (2002) Peas grown in media with elevated plant available silicon levels have higher activities of chitinase and β-1,3-glucanase, are less susceptible to a fungal leaf spot pathogen and accumulate more foliar silicon. Australasian Plant Pathology 31, 9–11. doi: 10.1071/AP01047
Datnoff LE, Snyder GH (1994) Comparison of silicon and benomyl alone and in combination for reducing blast incidence. Biological and Cultural Tests for Control of Plant Diseases 9, 113.
Datnoff LE, Rodrigues FA (2005) ‘The role of silicon in suppressing rice diseases.’ Available at http://www.apsnet.org/online/feature/silicon/[Verified 3 June 2008]
Datnoff LE, Snyder GH, Raid RN, Jones DB (1991) Effect of calcium silicate on blast and brown spot intensities and yields of rice. Plant Disease 75, 729–732.
Datnoff LE, Deren CW, Snyder GH (1997) Silicon fertilization for disease management of rice in Florida. Crop Protection (Guildford, Surrey) 16, 525–531. doi: 10.1016/S0261-2194(97)00033-1
Deepak SA, Raj NS, Umemura K, Kono T, Shetty HS (2003) Cerebroside as an elicitor for induced resistance against the downy mildew pathogen in pearl millet. The Annals of Applied Biology 143, 169–173. doi: 10.1111/j.1744-7348.2003.tb00283.x
Deepak SA, Oros G, Raj NS, Shetty NP, Shetty HS (2004) Iprovalicarb has potential for the control of downy mildew of pearl millet. Acta Phytopathologica et Entomologica Hungarica 39, 55–69. doi: 10.1556/APhyt.39.2004.1-3.7
Elliott CL, Snyder GH (1991) Autoclave induced digestion for the colorimetric determination of silicon in rice straw. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 39, 1118–1119. doi: 10.1021/jf00006a024
Fawe A, Abou-Zaid M, Menzies JG, Bélanger RR (1998) Silicon-mediated accumulation of flavonoid phytoalexins in cucumber. Phytopathology 88, 396–401. doi: 10.1094/PHYTO.1998.88.5.396
Hash CT, Yadav RS, Sharma A, Bidinger FR, Devos KM, Gale MD, Howarth CJ, Chandra S, Cavan GP, Serraj R, Kumar PS, Breese WA, Witcombe JA (2003) Pearl Millet Molecular Marker Research. PSP Annual Report 35.
Horwitz W (Ed.) (1970) Silicon. In ‘Official methods of analysis’. 11th edn. p. 7. (Association of Official Analytical Chemists: Washington, DC)
Kauss H, Seehaus K, Franke R, Gilbert S, Dietrich RA, Kroger N (2003) Silica deposition by a strongly cationic proline rich protein from systemically resistance cucumber plants. The Plant Journal 33, 87–95. doi: 10.1046/j.1365-313X.2003.01606.x
Kim SG, Kim WK, Park EW, Choi D (2002) Silicon induced cell wall fortification of rice leaves a possible cellular mechanism of enhanced host resistance to blast. Phytopathology 92, 1095–1103. doi: 10.1094/PHYTO.2002.92.10.1095
Ma JF, Yamaji N (2006) Silicon uptake and accumulation in higher plants. Trends in Plant Science 11, 392–397. doi: 10.1016/j.tplants.2006.06.007
Niranjan Raj S, Shetty NP, Shetty HS (2004a) Synergistic effects of Trichoshield on enhancement of growth and resistance to downy mildew in pearl millet. BioControl 50, 493–509.
Niranjan Raj S, Shetty NP, Shetty HS (2004b) Seed bio priming with Pseudomonas fluorescens isolates enhances growth of pearl millet plants and induces resistance against downy mildew. International Journal of Pest Management 50, 41–48.
Remus-Borel W, Menzies JG, Bélanger RR (2005) Silicon induces antifungal compounds in powdery mildew-infected wheat. Physiological and Molecular Plant Pathology 66, 108–115. doi: 10.1016/j.pmpp.2005.05.006
Rodrigues FA, McNally DJ, Datnoff LE, Jones JB, Labbé C, Benhamou N, Menzies JG, Bélanger RR (2004) Silicon enhances the accumulation of diterpenoid phytoalexins in rice: a potential mechanism for blast resistance. Phytopathology 94, 177–183. doi: 10.1094/PHYTO.2004.94.2.177
Safeeulla KM (1976) ‘Biology and control of the downy mildew of pearl millet, sorghum and finger millet.’ (Wesely Press: Mysore, India)
Shailasree S, Sarosh BR, Vasanthi NS, Shetty HS (2001) Seed treatment with β- aminobutyric acid protects Pennisetum glaucum systemically from Sclerospora graminicola. Pest Management Science 57, 721–728. doi: 10.1002/ps.346
Shailasree S, Ramachandra Kini K, Deepak S, Kumudini BS, Shetty HS (2004) Accumulation pattern of hydroxyproline-rich glycoproteins in pearl millet against Sclerospora graminicola. Plant Science 167, 1227–1234. doi: 10.1016/j.plantsci.2004.06.012
Sharathchandra RG, Raj NS, Shetty NP, Amruthesh KN, Shetty HS (2004) A Chitosan formulation Elexa™ inducesdownymildew disease resistance and growth promotion in pearl millet. CropProtection (Guildford, Surrey) 23, 881–888. doi: 10.1016/j.cropro.2003.12.008
Shivakumar PD, Geetha HM, Shetty HS (2003) Peroxidase activity and isozyme analysis of pearl millet seedlings and their implications in downy mildew disease resistance. Plant Science 164, 85–93. doi: 10.1016/S0168-9452(02)00339-4
Singh SD, Gopinath R (1985) Aseedlings inoculation technique for dectecting downy mildew resistance in pearl millet. Plant Disease 69, 582–584.
Williams RJ (1984) Downy mildew of tropical cereals. In ‘Advances in plant pathology, Vol. 2’. (Eds DD Ingram, PH Williams) pp. 1–103. (Academic Press: London)
Williams RJ, Singh SD (1981) Control of pearl millet downy mildew by seed treatment with metalaxyl. The Annals of Applied Biology 97, 263–268. doi: 10.1111/j.1744-7348.1981.tb05111.x
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Deepak, S., Manjunath, G., Manjula, S. et al. Involvement of silicon in pearl millet resistance to downy mildew disease and its interplay with cell wall proline/hydroxyproline-rich glycoproteins. Australasian Plant Pathology 37, 498–504 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1071/AP08047
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1071/AP08047