Abstract

Verticillium dahliae Klebhan is a soil-borne vascular pathogen, found in temperate regions all over the world. Salicylic acid (SA) treated and untreated seedlings of brinjal were histologically investigated for their infection and defense response to wilt causing and defoliating strain of V. dahliae Kleb. SA plays an important role in signaling and the activation of various plant defense responses to pathogen attack. SA has been used to control the disease (Verticillium wilt) with the different concentrations, namely, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, and 1.0 mM. Histopathological studies have been conducted at different time gap studies (namely, 0, 3, 6, 12, 24, 48, 72, and 96 h), whereas the SA-primed seedlings acquired resistance by forming papillae, hypersensitive reaction, cell wall thickening, etc. In the susceptible seedlings, V. dahliae colonizes through the primary roots, the infection process increased at 24 h after inoculation, and ramification increases at 72 h which finally leads to death. However, the infection process showed a significant difference between susceptible and SA-treated seedlings of eggplant. The V. dahliae showed slow infection process in SA-treated brinjal seedlings along with defense structures.

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