Articles

The Role of Potassium Silicate in Quorum Quenching Against the Virulence of Ralstonia solanacearum, the Causal Agent of Bacterial Wilt in Tomato

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Bacterial wilt caused by Ralstonia solanacearum remains one of the most destructive constraints in tomato production worldwide. The pathogen’s virulence is tightly regulated by quorum sensing (QS), which controls exopolysaccharide (EPS) biosynthesis, extracellular enzyme secretion, and biofilm formation. Targeting QS through quorum quenching (QQ) represents a promising anti-virulence strategy without imposing the selective pressure associated with conventional bactericides. This study investigated the dual role of potassium silicate as (i) a QS-interfering agent that modulates bacterial virulence traits and (ii) an inducer of host systemic resistance. Potassium silicate at 1 mM significantly reduced EPS production and biofilm formation, whereas 2 mM enhanced peroxidase activity in tomato plants. Disease severity was reduced during the early stages of infection in silica-treated plants. These findings indicate that potassium silicate attenuates bacterial wilt development through the integrated modulation of pathogen virulence and host defense responses. This study provides mechanistic insight into silicon-mediated plant protection and highlights potassium silicate as a sustainable strategy for bacterial wilt management.

The Effects, Distribution and Management Options for Major Banana Diseases in Tanzania

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Emergences of Fusarium wilt, Bacterial wilt and Black Sigatoka diseases have caused banana yield loss of up 100% in Tanzania. Though there have been accumulated empirical data on yield decline due to diseases, lack of disease knowledge and selection of appropriate control methods has been a limiting factor in improving banana production. Therefore, this review focused on identifying different management options for major banana diseases, for purpose of providing reference and decision making tools to farmers, extension officers, researchers and decision makers. Using online resources, we identified several methods which are affordable, applicable and reliable for disease management in the country. These includes sanitation, intercropping, crop rotation, prevention, irrigation, drainage improvement, quarantine, use of silicon/calcium and awareness campaigns. Other method was biological control, which need further research on its applicability and impact on the environment. Moreover the use of resistant cultivars though being important, there is little achievement which have been made on breeding for resistance, because banana are polyploidy, parthenocarpic, have long generation time, loss of resistance and poor acceptability of new cultivars. We also found that, no single method is perfect for management of diseases; this is due to the fact that, in agricultural system, disease challenges rarely occur singly. So the approach to disease management should be pragmatic and geared towards integration of several appropriate methods. We hereby conclude that, researches should focus on identifying the best and feasible combination of control methods that can be used by Smallholder farmers.