Effect of Alphaspin® Nanoparticles on the Susceptibility of Tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum L.) to Southern Blight Caused by Sclerotium Rolfsii in Lafia

A study was carried out to investigate the disease responses of Alphaspin nanoparticles-treated tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) to Southern blight caused by Sclerotium rolfsii in Lafia, Nasarawa State, Nigeria. Two grams each of seeds belonging to the Syria, Roma Savana, and UC82B tomato varieties were exposed to Alphaspin nanoparticles for 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 min respectively, and challenged with sclerotia obtained from isolates of S. rolfsii. Growth and disease responses of Alphaspin nanoparticles treated tomato plants to S. rolfsii were assessed 4 weeks after inoculation. UC82B tomato exposed to Alphaspin nanoparticles for 40 min proved to be the most susceptible variety to S. rolfsii, with the mean total leaf yellowing 87.50%, leaf necrosis 81.25%, flower wilt 82.50%, stem necrosis 40.00%, stem rot 35.00%, stem wilt 42.50%, plant wilt 45.00%, plant height 37.40 cm, number of leaves 88.00, stem girth 2.25 cm, number of branches 0.75, and number of flowers 7.75. The differences in growth and disease responses were significant among the different tomato varieties (P<0.05). The study revealed that plants exposed to Alphaspin nanoparticles were more vulnerable to southern blight than the untreated control, hence, studies involving the use of other nano materials such as green synthesized nanoparticles are required to further our understanding of the effect of nanoparticles on tomato resistance to southern blight caused by S. rolfsii.